Madness and Chaos
by SuperKirbyLand234
Summary: Tails has begun having nightmares about an evil version of Sonic tormenting and killing him to the point where Tails starts descending into insanity and does something unforgivable. Can his friends save him or will he completely lose control?
1. Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog; all credit goes to the original creators at Sega, please support the official release)

(Side Note: This story was inspired by Sonic-exe the fan comic version of the My Little Pony creepypasta "Rocket to Insanity". There's a dub of this comic by Scribbler Productions on Youtube, you should give it a watch; its pretty good and it'll help you understand the context of this story. Enjoy).

Chapter 1: The Nightmares

A gentle, kind-hearted soul. A smart inventor and a good friend. These were some of the words used to describe Miles Prower or "Tails" as his friends had called him because of the two tails he was born with, which also gave him his ability to fly. Growing up, Tails was the subject of bullying because of his tails and this is was why he was so timid and lacked courage. Then one day, he met Sonic the Hedgehog and was inspired to become as cool as him after seeing him run like the wind. Sonic had given Tails his confidence, eventually growing into a more outgoing, brave and independent individual, and a hero in his own right; he and Sonic became best friends and Tails soon joined him on many adventures, all the while making new friends along the way. Since encountering Sonic, Tails has looked up to him and stood by his side, helping him however he can during their adventures.

So why was the heroic blue hedgehog suddenly becoming a source of unrelenting terror for the young fox?

Well, the most likely answer was that it all started with the nightmares.

Tails couldn't remember when they had started, but every night he had been plagued by horrifying nightmares about his best friend. In the dreams, Tails found himself walking along the same green hill where he first met Sonic but as he walked along the hill, he would notice something on the ground. It was an animal, a Flicky to be precise, lying on the ground; it was dead, with its stomach split open and its entrails splayed out onto the ground. As scared as he was, Tails continued to walk along the hill. As he did, he saw even more dead animals; some lying on the ground, some hanging from the trees by their intestines and some sitting in large pools of blood.

Tails was terrified to the point where he began crying, that's when he saw him: his best friend, Sonic, standing on the edge of the hill with his back turned to his young friend. Tails ran towards Sonic, throwing his arms around his friend and crying in fear. "S-s-s-Sonic, i-its terrible! T-t-there's d-d-dead animals e-e-everywhere!", he had sobbed. Sonic would then surprise him by shaking from laughter, he would then turn around and look at Tails with an expression of malice. "Of course they're dead, Tails. I killed them", he would say. Then he would change: Sonic's eyes would turn pitch black with red pupils and blood running down his face. Tails backed away slowly, shaking with fear and feeling as though he'd throw up. Then, Sonic would ask Tails a question:

" _ **dO YoU wAnT tO PlAy hIdE aNd SeEk**_?"

The next thing Tails knew, he was transported to a hellish landscape, a grassy hill that was on fire. Tails would then run, trying to find a way to escape the terrifying area. Suddenly Sonic, the scary demonic one he had seen, would appear behind him and Tails would scream and run as fast as he could in an effort to escape the monstrous version of his best friend; Tails would even look back and see Sonic chasing him, but not running but by flying in the same manner as Metal Sonic. Tails would then trip and fall on the ground; he'd look up and see this evil Sonic standing over him, smiling that devilish sharp-toothed grin. " _ **I WILL EAT YOUR HEART**_!", he'd say before thrusting his clawed hand into Tails chest. Tails would usually awaken screaming right at that moment.

This nightmare had occurred over and over for the last four weeks; Tails would wake crying, sweating and screaming after each nightmare, and there was even one time where he had vomited in his sleep and had to turn over and bend over a nearby trashcan to throw up so he wouldn't choke. Tails didn't understand why he was having these dreams about his best friend turning into a monster and doing all those evil things, but he would always tell himself it wasn't real. That Sonic would never do such a thing; he was a hero, loved by many on Earth and Mobius, and he wouldn't go against everything he stood for. But even with that in mind, these nightmares would slowly eat away at Tails fragile psyche.

The only time Tails was safe was during the daytime. If nothing was happening that day, Tails would lie on a picnic blanket under a tree in the local park, taking a nap as a single shaft of sunlight peered through the tree's leaves, warming his face and chasing the bad dreams away. But even these afternoon naps only offered a small moment of peace for the young fox, and with this peace came some rather irritating consequences. Dr. Eggman had continued with his evil schemes of world domination, but Sonic and the others would notice that Tails wasn't there to join them in their battles against Eggman's robots.

It wasn't like Sonic and the others couldn't stop Dr. Eggman's robots, but there were times where they could've used Tails' technological insight to beating some of the harder robots. On one particular day, after a rather difficult battle, Knuckles became annoyed by the young fox's absence and went to find him. He found Tails lying under a tree sleeping. "Tails, wake up!", he shouted. Tails was startled awake and he asked Knuckles what the issue was; Knuckles had said the "issue" was that the other were battling one of Eggman's stronger robots, and if it wasn't for Sonic noticing it weak spot in a rather unnoticeable area of the robot's body, they all would have been crushed.

Tails had apologized and said that he hadn't gotten much sleep lately, leaving out the details. As Knuckles said he understood and that Tails should fix that problem, Tails stared up at the sky. As he did, Tails swore he could see the sky flash black for a split second before it stayed like that for a while. Knuckles had noticed Tails staring at the sky with look of terror on his face; when Knuckles looked at the sky, he didn't see anything but a few clouds and some Flickies flying by. Tails watched those same Flickies fly by but when he looked at them, their stomachs suddenly split open and they fell to the ground as Tails could hear faint demonic laughter. "Hey Tails, are you okay?", asked Knuckles as he reached out to place his hand on his shoulder.

When Knuckles' hand made contact with Tails' shoulder, Tails flinched violently and jumped into the air, hovering over Knuckles with his tails. "DON'T TOUCH ME!", he screamed before grabbing his chest to steady his heavy breathing and pounding heart. Knuckles looked at him in concern, 'Tails, are you alright? What's going on with you?", he asked. Tails put on a false smile, "Yeah, I'm okay. Look Knuckles, I have to go", he said as he flew away. Knuckles scratched the side of his head, "Something's bugging that kid, I just wish I knew what", he said.

Something was indeed wrong with Tails, but to say something was "bugging" him was an understatement; it was more like Tails was having a battle within his own mind and as he lost each fight, it took its toll on him both physically and mentally. The nightmare would keep him up all night, leaving him exhausted and disoriented, and the lack of sleep caused Tails to have trouble telling what was real and what was not. And it didn't help that he didn't tell his friends about his situation and that only served to make things worse as it forced Tails to deal with this on his own.

And this was only the beginning...

Tails laid down on his bed to sleep, and this time, he didn't seem afraid. You see, his nightmares had been somewhat formulaic recently. Tails would appeared on the same hill with the same dead mutilated animals, and the demonic Sonic would chase him through the same fiery landscape before catching and killing Tails. The dreams had gotten to the point where they became redundant and repetitive, and Tails couldn't muster the energy to be scared. He began to feel as though he was finally free from this terror, oh how wrong he was.

When he fell asleep and appeared in his dreamscape, Tails noticed that he wasn't on the hill but rather on a futuristic platform and trapped under in a cage. The evil Sonic appeared next to him, laughing. " _ **Did you think that you could escape from me? We're just getting started and I've decided to bring someone new to play with us**_ ", it said. The monster snapped its fingers and Tails stared in horror as Knuckles appeared in front of him, tied down onto a metal table; the evil Sonic laughed and smiled as the usual strong-willed echidna struggled to break free as tears rolled down his face. " _ **We're gonna play 'Doctor'. Our friend here is in need of surgery**_ ", said the evil Sonic. It then walked over towards Knuckles and Tails watched in horror as it slit Knuckles open from his torso to his stomach and began pulling his organs out one by one; Tails couldn't look away as he watched his friend being slowly disemboweled, screaming in pain. After a few minutes, Knuckles finally died. The evil Sonic looked Tails with that same grin and said, " _ **Are you still bored, Tails**_?"

That's when Tails awoke screaming again and came to a horrible realization: somehow this demonic Sonic knew that Tails was beginning to find the dreams less scary due to their repeating nature and so this latest dream was it attempting to entertain Tails by switching the painful deaths from Tails to someone else. Tails had hoped this was a one time thing, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

For the next few days, Tails was plagued by a new set of nightmares. Instead of the evil Sonic chasing and killing him, it decided to torture Tails by trapping him and forcing him watch as all his friends were brutally murdered before him and became so terrifying that even though Tails couldn't predict the methods of death, he could always predict the order in which who was chosen in each dream: first Knuckles, then Amy, then Shadow, Silver, Blaze, Rouge, Vector, Espio, Charmy, and Cream and her mother would always be saved for last because the kind and sweet rabbit girl was two years younger than Tails and it tormented the young fox to watch a small child witness their mother being murdered before being murdered herself. Tails had begged for the torment to stop, but the evil Sonic refused and laugh, saying that this is what Tails had wanted when he thought the dreams became less scary by doing the same thing over and over.

The nightmares had pushed the breaking point for Tails when the latest dream had Tails being pulled underground by the mutilated corpses of his friends as the evil Sonic watched and laughed, " _ **Looks like they want you to join in our fun, the more the merrier**_!", it said as Tails slipped under the blood-soaked earth. Once again, Tails woke up screaming, ran to his bathroom and vomited into his toilet before going to the sink and splashing cold water on his face. That was when he saw that monster's bloody grinning face looking back at him. Tails clenched his fist in anger and screamed, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" before punching a hole into his bathroom mirror, pulling out his hand as blood from the small cuts he endured stained his glove.

Tails began crying hysterically and he slumped into a fetal position in the corner of his bathroom, clutching his injured hand to his chest. "What did I do? Why is this happening to me? I don't deserve this! I don't deserve this! I didn't do anything, but these dream just keep coming. Every night, for weeks! Why? Why can't you leave me alone? Huh, Sonic? Why?", the young fox sobbed. It was clear now: Miles "Tails" Prower was slowly falling deeper into madness.

Author's Note: Hey I hoped you all liked the first chapter of my new story. I decided to take a break from other works and try something new. I'll be back with Chapter 2 pretty soon and that'll be a chapter where Tails will feel himself descend into despair. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	2. Chapter 2

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 2: An Unthinkable Act

Tails had soon realized that every night when he closed his eyes, the nightmares just kept coming and so he came to the ultimate conclusion: sleep during the day and stay awake during the night. He figured that if he changed his sleeping habits the nightmares wouldn't hurt, after all the daytime was the only time he could sleep without being plagued by those horrible dreams. The only problem was he wasn't nocturnal, so how was he going to pull this off?

That answer came in the form of caffeine, Tails reasoned that if he drank coffee at night, it'd keep him up during the eight hours of sleep he usually got and then he'd just sleep the following morning. Tails went to the market the next day and began buying several large tubs of coffee, then when night time rolled around he brewed up a few cups and drank them while watching late night TV.

Tails also deduced that what he watched on TV could also help keep him awake at night so he flipped through the channels to find something that wasn't dull or boring to watch. Eventually he settled on either one of those mindless action movies that just had big loud explosions or one of those horror movies that relied only on jump scares to frighten people. For the most part, Tails plan had worked like a charm; the loud and obnoxious movies and cups of coffee kept him up at night and during the day he slept off the resulting fatigue, the nightmares were kept at bay.

But sadly all good things must come to an end and Tails soon realized that his plan went from making things better to making them worst. The combination of coffee and late night TV had thrown off his internal clock to the point where he didn't feel hunger at the appropriate times, and that only caused him to go an entire day without a single meal.

To top it off, the constant jittery feeling he felt from drinking so much coffee caused to also become extremely paranoid and jumpy, and when it wore off, he felt dizzy and sick and the visions of his nightmares would flash before his eyes. To put it simply, Tails was slowly turning into a shell of his former self; the lack of sleep, irregular patterns of hunger and the sour mood made the younge fox unrecognizable to everyone around him.

And it wasn't long before his friends caught on that their young fox friend wasn't behaving like his usual happy and chipper self, and that's when they decided to discuss what to do about it.

Knuckles had gathered the others together the very next morning to talk about Tails recent change in attitude and outburst the other day, it was very disconcerting and they needed to know. "I have noticed that he's been rather distant lately, almost like he's avoiding us", said Amy. "Do you think it's all the stress finally catching up to him that's got him acting that way?", asked Silver. "I don't know, but what I do know is that Tails isn't doing so well and he's in some serious need of cheering up", said Knuckles.

That's when Sonic stepped forward, "Why don't I go see him? After all, he is my best bud. We can talk for a while, maybe grab a bite to eat and I bet he'll be back to his old self in no time. I know, you guys can tell him to meet me over by Green Hill, hanging out where we first met is guaranteed to put a smile on his face", he said. The others agreed that some quality with Sonic was all Tails needed to get out of his funk, "Alright Sonic, I'll go find Tails and tell him to meet over by Green Hill", said Knuckles. "Sweet, that should give me enough time to pack some lunch in a picnic basket", said Sonic.

An hour later, Knuckles once again found Tails beneath a tree at the park and what he saw wasn't pretty. The young fox had dark bags under his eyes, which were blood shot and red from the crying he had done, and his bright orange-yellow fur was messy and unkempt. _Man this kid is in dire need of a good time_ , thought Knuckles. He walked over to Tails and tapped him on the shoulder, awakening the sleeping fox. "Hmm? Oh hey Knuckles, what's up?", he asked sluggishly. "Sonic wanted me to tell you to meet him over by Green Hill, he's got something special planned for the two of you", said Knuckles as he walked away.

Tails was suddenly filled with a sense of dread: him and Sonic, alone together, at Green Hill; that was exactly how all of his nightmares had started, but Tails shook his head. "C'mon Tails, those were in the dreams. You're awake now, this is real life and the real Sonic wouldn't do such terrible things...right?", he said to himself as he flew to Green Hill. Tails was unsure of himself, but he kept reminding himself that he was in the waking world where his nightmares couldn't hurt him and he was safe.

When he landed, Tails saw that Sonic set up a picnic for the two of them near some tall trees. Sonic saw Tails and smiled, "Hey buddy, glad you could make it. It's been too long since we've just hung out together, and everyone's noticed you've been a little down lately, so I set up this picnic. I brought you a ham sandwich if that's okay, as for me, I'm having a chili dog. I also brought some cheese and crackers if you're in the mood for that too", he said as he sat down and began eating.

Tails almost felt himself relax as he sat down across from his friend, everything seemed normal. The sky was bright blue instead of pitch black, the nearby sea wasn't blood red and the Flickies in the surrounding trees were chirping happily and not dead with their corpses strewed about on the ground. And Sonic was normal too, he gave Tails a friendly smile as he scarfed down his chili dog, washing it down with a bottle of soda. His eyes weren't black, red and bleeding, and he wasn't smiling that evil smiling or laughing that demented laugh.

Tails breathed a sigh of relief as he bit into his sandwich, a warm feeling filling his chest. _Everything is normal_ , he thought happily. After Sonic finished eating, he stood up and dusted his hands off, "Well, if you're almost done, I thought we could play a game together", he said. That's when the world seemed to stop around Tails and the food he just ate felt like cement in his stomach, "W-w-what did you say?", he asked fearfully. "A game. I thought on a nice sunny day like today, a picnic and a friendly game would be just the thing to perk you up; we could play Tag or I Spy or Follow the Leader, maybe some Leap Frog. We could have a little foot race or better yet, we could play Hide and Seek", said Sonic.

And that's when everything felt like it was crumbling around Tails feet, this was when he felt the nightmare coming true and when the image of that demonic hell spawn would flash before eyes in place of his friend. He was here, he came for him and now, he wanted Tails to play his sick and twisted little game. Well this time, Tails had finally had enough and was going to fight back; looking for anything to defend himself, he grabbed the cheese knife Sonic had brought for the cheese and crackers and held it in front of himself.

"S-s-stay back! Don't come near me!", Tails exclaimed. Sonic became confused and concern by his friends behavior, "Tails, what's wrong buddy?", he asked. Tails shakily held the knife out, "Get away from me, you monster!", he shouted. Sonic ignored him and stepped closer, "Tails, are you feeling okay?", he asked. Tails felt fear and rage boiling up inside him like a thermometer inside an oven.

•Look at that freak trying to sound all innocent and friendly. You know he'll kill you if you don't do something!•

•But what should I do? He's coming closer!•

Tails was having an internal argument with himself, with that side of his mind that we all listen to when in danger. The part of us that tells you to either run from the oncoming threat or stand up and fight back against it, and this part of Tails was definitely pushing towards the latter category.

Sonic took another step forward and placed his hand upon Tails' shoulder, "C'mon Tails, you can talk to me. I'm your best friend", he said. Tails felt the thing string holding his mind together slowly coming apart, he couldn't stop himself, his hand flew out and he slashed the knife across Sonic's face. Sonic cried out in pain as he fell over, a long gash having been made in his right cheek. He looked up at Tails as tears began to well up in his eyes, "Tails...what did you do that for?!", he shouted in disbelief.

Tails just stared at him with his shaky hands clutching the knife, "Y-y-you think you c-c-can get me that easily? Not this time! This time, I'm winning this game and you're gonna lose!", Tails shouted. Sonic was even more confused and even saddened by his friend's display of insane anger, "Tails, what are you talking about? What game?", he asked almost scared to know the answer.

•Look he's doing it again, acting like he's hurt so you'll let your guard down! You can't let him get to you, if you do then your done for!•

•What do I do then?•

 _Kill him! Do it, you know he'll just kill you if don't kill him first! Make him pay! Make him suffer just as he made you and your other friends suffer! DO IT!_ _ **KILL HIM!**_

At last, Tails finally snapped and charged at Sonic with the knife; he knocked the blue hedgehog over and pinned him down with his foot, "Tails, what are you doing?", Sonic pleaded. Tails looked at him with an expression of unbridled fury, "LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!", Tails screamed as he brought down the knife. Being pinned down, all Sonic could down was scream in agony as his best friend stabbed him repeatedly in the abdomen and torso, tears streaming down his face.

After the tenth stab, Tails finally stopped and backed away to look at his handy work. Sonic laid in a small pool of his own blood as he looked up at his friend; Tails stood over him, clutching the knife in his hand that was soaked in blood along with most of his chest, stomach and legs. Sonic cried as he gasped, struggling to breathe. "T-t-t-Tails...why...d-d-did you...do this? I-I-I thought y-y-you were my f-f-fri...", Sonic's voice trailed off as the blood lost and shock caused him to pass out.

Tails stood over him breathing heavily until the fire in his eyes died out and he saw what laid at his feet. Realization hit Tails like a runaway freight train as his mind just pieced together what he had just done: he brutally attacked Sonic, not the monster from his dreams, the _real_ Sonic! Not the Sonic that loved to torture Tails in his dreams by either killing him or killing his friends right in front of him, but the Sonic who always helped people in need and loved stopping Dr. Eggman's evil schemes all in the name of being a hero; he stabbed nearly to death not the demon, but his best friend. Tails gasped in shock.

He had stabbed his best friend nearly to death!

Tails dropped the knife and crouched over Sonic's not moving body, crying hysterically as he shook the still hedgehog. "Sonic? Sonic! Sonic, please wake up! I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry! I didn't...I don't..I just...! H-h-h...Help! Someone help me! Please, somebody! Anybody! _**HELP ME!**_ ", Tails screamed as he sobbed uncontrollably.

Not too far away from where the horror show took place, Vector, Espio and Charmy were walking along the grassy path having a conversation with one another. "And so I told him "if you're not gonna change the oil every three to four miles, then why would you even bother buying it in the first place?" He just looked at me like I was stupid", said Vector. "So what did you next?", asked Espio. "Yeah, the what happened next, Vector?", asked Charmy. "He tried driving off but then he didn't get far on account of the transmission being shot and to top it all off, the battery died. Some people are just too lazy to look into fixing up their cars", said Vector.

Just then, the trio stopped walking when they heard a high-pitched voice screaming for help; they ran towards the source of the sound, with Espio getting a little further ahead of the other two. When he stopped at the source of the screams, he found Tails lying on the ground in a fetal position, crying and shaking; Espio bent down to his level, "Tails, what's wrong? Oh Chaos, why are you covered in blood?", he said.

Tails just laid there shaking and weeping, he had barely acknowledged Espio's presence. Speaking of the ninja chameleon, Espio turned to the left and gasped in disbelief; he saw Sonic lying in a puddle of blood, not moving. Vector and Charmy had finally caught up just as Espio rushed to Sonic's side, "Man you run fast, Espio. Guess that's a ninja thi—! Oh my gosh, what the heck happened?!", shouted Vector as he saw the bloody hedgehog lying on the ground.

Espio placed his hand near Sonic's neck and felt a weak pulse, "He's still alive! Vector, call 911 right now!", he said. Vector quickly took out his cell phone and started dialing the number for the ambulance; Charmy, with tears in his eyes, flew over to his friend and the unconscious hedgehog. "Espio, is he gonna die?", Charmy asked his voice cracking.

"I'm not sure, hopefully the ambulance will get here before that happens. In the meantime, I have to tell the others about this", said Espio as he pulled out his own phone and began calling the rest of Sonic's friends. As he did, he glanced over to Tails who continued to lie on the ground crying and shaking. _What in Chaos' name happened here_ , he thought.

Half an hour later, the others arrived in time to see Sonic being wheeled away on a stretcher into the back of an ambulance. "Ahhh! No, Sonic!", shouted Amy as she began crying. One of the EMTs approached the group of shocked friends, "What happened? Is Sonic alright?", asked Knuckles. "At the moment we're not sure, but we can tell you, whoever did this must've really hated your friend. He was stabbed over ten times, whoever did this must've wanted him dead", he said before climbing into the back of the ambulance.

As the group was trying to process what had just happened, Charmy looked around and noticed that someone else was missing. "Hey, where did Tails go?", he asked.

At the hospital, Sonic was quickly wheeled into the OR and was being prepped for emergency surgery, though he was giving the medical assistants some trouble. "Geez, even after being stabbed so many times, he's still got some fight left in him. Hopefully this will knock him out so we can patch him up", said Assistant #1 as he injected Sonic with anesthesia for the fourth time as the speedy blue hedgehog, despite being injured, still had enough strength to resist being sedated. Sonic's eyes opened slightly as he looked at the group of surgeons all around him. The head surgeon gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry Sonic, you're always there to save us. Now it's our turn to save you", he said. Just before the anesthesia took full affect, Sonic whispered a single word, "t-t-t-Tails...", but before the doctors could make sense of what he said, he shut his eyes again and slipped into unconsciousness.

Author's Note: There we go, Chapter 2 is finished and what a chapter it was. Seems our favorite two-tailed fox has snapped and did the most terrible thing he's ever done. Now we all know he didn't mean to do it but the real question is: will the others believe him when they find out who really almost killed Sonic? Find out in Chapter 3, until next time, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	3. Chapter 3

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

(Warning: This is where my story deviates from its inspiration and where I'm changing the rating to a T for suggestive themes. Thank you).

Chapter 3: Revelations

Sonic's friends sat in the hospital waiting room, they were waiting for the doctor to come out and tell them about Sonic's condition. Just then, the head surgeon walked out of the operating room and was immediately rushed by the group. "Doctor, how's Sonic? Is he gonna be okay? Who did this? Will he-", Amy was cut off when Silver used his telekinesis to clamp her mouth shut. "Well, we managed to stop the bleeding and close up all his stab wounds. Luckily, none of his organs were hit so he'll be fine. Unfortunately, we can't let you all visit him right now; he's been heavily sedated and he needs to rest", said the doctor.

While the group was happy to hear that Sonic will live, they were disappointed that they couldn't see him right away but they understood that he needed rest if he was going to properly recover. "As for who did this, I'm sorry but I'm a surgeon, not a detective. I'm afraid you all need to figure that for yourselves, I wish you all the best of luck in doing so though", he said as he walked away.

The group then went outside as they tried to figure out what happened, "Well, the only one I can think of who'd do such a terrible thing is Dr. Eggman. I'd say we go pay the 'good' doctor a visit and give a piece of our minds!", said Knuckles. The others agreed as they were filled with anger over their friend being brutally attacked; as they went off to find Eggman's base, they didn't know that one of them had taken off in another direction.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the forest, Tails sat at the base of an oak tree crying into his hands. As Sonic was being loaded into the ambulance, he flew away as fast as he could to get away from the scene; even if Vector, Espio and Charmy had seen him covered in blood, he didn't want Knuckles and the others to see him. As of right now, none of his other friends knew he was responsible for what happened to Sonic and he wasn't entirely sure whether or not he wanted to tell them.

Tails was afraid of what they'd say or do and knowing how they are, he had a good idea of how each of them would react react: Amy, Knuckles, and Shadow would probably beat him within an inch of his life. Silver and Blaze would be disgusted in him, Rouge would mostly likely be shocked that someone as innocent as him would do this, as would Vector and his friends, and Cream and Cheese would be terrified of him. And since they didn't know he did it, they're probably going to blame Dr. Eggman for what happened to Sonic; granted, Eggman would be an obvious choice, but Tails knew even they would soon figure out that despite constantly trying to destroy Sonic with giant killer robots, stabbing him nearly to death is too low for even Eggman.

 _ **"Nice one Tails, I didn't think you'd do something like this but I must say, I'm very impressed".**_

Tails flinched as he looked up and saw the evil black-eyed standing over him, smiling that demonic smile again. He sounded genuinely proud of Tails for nearly killing his best friend. "Are you happy now? Sonic almost died because of you! Because you wouldn't leave me alone and now Sonic's life is hanging by a thread, why couldn't you just leave alone? Why are you torturing me?", sobbed Tails. The evil Sonic smiled as it bent down to Tails level and looked at him almost seductively, _**"Why? Well Tails, its because I'm fascinated by you. Of all the hosts I've had, you are quite intriguing; you're a creature with a pure and good soul, and yet with just the tiniest bit of persuasion, you crack and try to kill your friend. All of my other hosts just tried to kill themselves, but not you; I've created a new form of insanity within you and I find it most delicious"**_ , it said.

And then, it leaned forward and planted its lips on Tails' lips; Tails felt himself jump at the sudden contact. Though to anyone in the real world, it'd look like Tails was kissing the air but to Tails, he was being forced to make out with this demonic version of his best friend; it wasn't there, but Tails could feel this disgusting creature pressing it's filthy bloodstained lips being pressed against his lips. Tails had finally had enough, however, and pushed the sadistic demon off him. "Ugggh! What was that? Blagh, that was disgusting! Why did you do that?", shouted Tails as he felt like he was gonna throw up. The evil Sonic smiled and licked it's lips, it's eyes clouded over in lust. _**"Because Tails...you're so tempting that I can't resist getting a taste of you. I can't wait for when you fall asleep tonight, I've just thought of something fun we can do"**_ , it said as it disappeared.

Tails curled up into a ball and continued to cry, feeling both used and violated. As he laid there, he saw a familiar pair of red, black and white shoes enter his line of vision; Tails looked up and to his fear, he saw Shadow standing over him, his expression neutral. "Shadow? What are you doing here?", he asked afraid to know the answer. "I know what you did, Tails. I'm not as gullible as the others are; I know Eggman isn't behind this, even he's not **_that_** evil", he said. Tails sighed in defeat as he sat up, "Well yes, its true Shadow. I did it, I stabbed Sonic! This is his blood all over me! I didn't mean to do it, but I did! Go ahead, tell the others about it or beat me up. I don't care which one you do, I deserve it", he said.

Shadow reached down but as Tails flinched in preparation for what he was about to do, he was surprised when Shadow picked him up and carried him on his back. "Wait...Shadow, what are you doing? Aren't you angry at me?" asked the confused fox. "I'm taking you to my house, you need to take a bath, you're covered in blood. Then when you're finished, we're going to sit down in the living room, drink some tea and you're going to tell me what's going on", he said. Tails was taken aback, "So...you believe me...that I didn't mean to do what I did?", asked Tails. Shadow gave him a small smile, "Right now I don't what do believe, but that's why we're going to talk about it, so I can get all the details. And if you honestly thought I'd lose my cool over this, you're wrong. True, I am concerned for Sonic's well-being and I am disappointed in you, but I'm not like that hot-headed echidna or that annoyingly obsessive pink hedgehog: I am not going to jump at the earliest opportunity to pick fights with someone without getting all the facts first", he said.

Tails leaned against Shadow's back, quietly sobbing. Only this time, he was crying tears of joy; he was glad that even if one of his friends had figured out that he brutally attacked Sonic, Shadow was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and let him explain himself. "Thank you, Shadow", he whispered. Shadow gave him a small smile as he pulled out his green Chaos Emerald, "Chaos Control!", shouted Shadow as they disappeared.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman was sitting in a large armchair at his base when he heard a loud banging sound. "What the heck was that?", he asked. Orbot and Cubot came hovering into the room, "Sir, Sonic's friends are breaking into the base and they all seem very angry", said Orbot. Eggman ran to where the front entrance was just in time to see the door being knocked down due to Amy's hammer and Knuckles' punches, "What is the meaning of this?" asked Eggman. "Don't play dumb, Eggman! We're here to make you pay for what you did to Sonic!", shouted Amy. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything to Sonic, in fact I haven't done anything all day", said Eggman. "Nice try, Eggman. We know you're the one who stabbed Sonic nearly to death!", shouted Knuckles.

Confused, Dr. Eggman turned on his TV and saw that the incident was currently being talked about on every news channel. "Oh my gosh, what happened to Sonic?", he asked. "Sonic was stabbed to near death earlier this afternoon, he was taken to the hospital shortly after. He's going to be okay, but now we're looking for the one responsible for this", said Silver. "Well it wasn't me, I was here in my base since I woke up this morning. And I wasn't even planning on attacking Sonic or any of you today anyway, I've been in a creative slump for the past week and I don't have any new plans. Also even I was going to attack Sonic, it'd be with a robot of my own creation; I wouldn't pick up a knife and stabbed Sonic multiple times, even if I hated that infernal blue hedgehog, that's too low and vindictive for even me", said Eggman.

This made everyone stop and think, "Wait...if Dr. Eggman was here all day, then who attacked Sonic?", asked Silver. "If he's not the culprit, then we need to speak with the last person who was with Sonic before he was attacked, and according to Vector, Espio and Charmy, that person was Tails", said Blaze. Of course, at this point and time, none of them knew Tails was the culprit; they thought he was as much a victim in this as Sonic was, after all he had been found near Sonic crying and covered in blood. They just assumed Tails witnessed the terrible act and the culprit took off without harming the young fox. "Poor Tails, who knows what must be going through his mind right now. Let's find him and see if he got a good look at who did this", said Knuckles.

Meanwhile, Shadow and Tails had appeared in Shadow's living room where Rouge was sitting on the couch drinking coffee and reading a magazine. When she spotted her roommate/co-worker carrying a bloody Tails, she said, "I'll wait for you to get situated before you explain to me what's going on". Shadow carried Tails upstairs to the bathroom where he turned on the faucet and filled up the tub with warm water, "Here, you get cleaned up while I go make the tea. There's a clean towel on the sink, let me know need anything", he said.

Tails sighed as he removed his shoes and lowered himself into the warm water, squirting shampoo onto himself and began scrubbing the blood and sweat off his body. It felt good to clean himself off, but at the same time he felt guilty about essentially washing away any evidence of him attacking Sonic. It was wrong but he knew he couldn't tell the others before he got everything sorted out, and since Shadow and possibly Rouge were the only ones who would listen to him, he had to take things as they come.

After he finished, he dried off and walked downstairs, sitting next to Rouge on the couch; she looked at him and gave him a sad smile, ruffling the fur on his head with her hand. "Shadow told me everything, and I saw it on the news. What I can't believe is that you actually did that, do you feel okay?", she said. Despite the empty hollowness he felt, Tails was still able to smile at the jewel thief's genuine concern. "I feel completely numb, but thank you for asking", he said. Shadow then walked in carrying a tray that held a mug of steaming hot tea, "This tea should help you feel better. I made it with lemon balm, lavender, chamomile, and passion flower; I read online that it helps you relax and helps you sleep and you definitely look like you need some sleep. Now, can you explain what's been going on with that led to you attacking Sonic", he said.

Tails downed half the mug of the bittersweet tea before he confessed everything to Shadow and Rouge: he told them about the nightmares involving a demonic version of Sonic torturing and killing Tails and the others, how the nightmares kept him up at night and that daytime was the only time Tails could sleep in peace, how he tried coffee and late night TV to kept him up at night so he wouldn't have those dreams, how the sleep derivation caused the visions and hallucinations of the evil hedgehog to torment Tails until he couldn't distinguish the real Sonic from the one in his nightmares and how that finally caused him to stab his best friend to near death. By the end of it, Tails was crying and sobbing again; he drank more tea as Rouge passed him a box of tissues, she couldn't believe what she and Shadow had heard.

"What I don't get Tails is why you didn't tell anybody about this before it escalated to the point of hallucinations?", asked Rouge. Tails blew his nose, "I...I felt like I'd be burdening everyone with my problems and so I thought I could handle it myself. Pfft, look how well that turned out", he said. Shadow stood up and walked over to a nearby closet, pulling out a blanket and pillow and giving them to Tails, "Well, you can't go home and the others aren't exactly in a listening mood right now, so you'll stay here with Rogue and I. We'll keep you safe and hidden from the others until you're ready to come clean about what happened", he said as Rouge nodded in agreement.

Tails smiled, "Thank you, both of you. I don't know what's I do if you guys weren't willing to hear me out and help me. I don't think I'll be able to tell the others about this yet, at least...not until I tell Sonic first. He's the one I hurt so he needs to know why before the others do. Again, thank you both for your help", he said as he laid down and promptly fell asleep.

That night, Tails once again found himself in the nightmare realm the evil Sonic had created, but he wasn't prepared for how he entered it this time. When he opened his eyes, he found himself tied down to a four poster, queen sized bed with dark red sheets; Tails tried to speak but he realized he was gagged and even worse, he realized what was gagging him: it was red, crooked and furry. It was Knuckles' tail!

Evil laughter filled his ears as he saw the evil Sonic float towards him and drop down on top of him, **_"Mmm, you look even more delectable when you're tied down and helpless. I'm gonna have so much fun stealing away the last part of you I haven't soiled yet, so...you might wanna bite down on that tail because I'm going in dry!"_** , it whispered.

Tails thrashed and struggles to break free but it felt like no matter how hard he tried, the bonds just got tighter and tighter; the evil Sonic laughed manically as he inches closer and closer to the bound fox, but before he could do anything, a shoe collided with his face and sent him flying into a nearby rock.

Tails gasped in surprise as he saw Shadow and Rouge, not dead like they'd normally be in his dreams, but untying him and holding onto him as they ran away. The evil Sonic growled angrily as he chased after them, his claws fully extended and baring his sharp fangs. **_"You can't take him! He belongs to me!"_** , he screamed as he slashed outward. Tails jumped in front of Shadow and took the full force of the slash, and that was when he woke up.

He looked up to see Shadow and Rouge standing over him as he laid on the couch, "Thank Chaos we got you up, you weren't kidding when you said those dreams cause you to scream but it can't hurt you now", said Shadow. Rouge bent down and rubbed Tails' head and that's when she noticed something dark and wet staining the blanket draped over Tails. "Shadow, what's that?", she asked as she pointed to the spot. Shadow threw back the blanket and all three of them gasped in shock by what they saw: on Tails' chest were three, six inch long claw marks that oozed blood. And these claw marks...were fresh!

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 3, and now Tails has Shadow and Rouge helping him out but now many questions arise: Will Tails be able to forgive himself? Will the others believe him when he tells them the truth? Can he overcome his nightmares? And why did he wake up from this particular nightmare with freshly bleeding claw marks on his chest? All these questions and more shall be answered in Chapter 4 but for now, let me know what you all thought of this chapter. Until next time, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	4. Chapter 4

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 4: Truth and Forgiveness

Tails winched as Rouge cleaned and bandaged the claw marks on his chest while Shadow was researching about "dream based injuries", the closest he got to an answer about what happened to Tails is that he did that to himself while fighting against the evil Sonic; Tails was a bit skeptical about that but given the rather raunchy turn his nightmares had taken, he couldn't exactly deny that was a possibility of it being true. "In any case, we're not letting you sleep alone for the rest of the night. We'll stay down here with you to make sure you don't hurt yourself again", said Shadow as he pulled out two sleeping bags. He and Rouge laid them on the floor before sitting on opposite sides of Tails on the couch, "Wait aren't you guys going to sleep?", asked Tails.

"No hun, we're going to wait for you to fall back to sleep first", said Rouge. Tails nodded as he laid back down, feeling the strong grip of sleep pulling him back into slumber; the next morning, Tails awoke to the smell of home-cooking. Tails was surprised: not once during the night did he have any nightmares, he was able to sleep peacefully. Tails yawned as he got up and walked into the kitchen to see Shadow sitting at the table reading a newspaper and drinking coffee while Rouge stood by the stove cooking, "Well look who finally woke up. Guess what: you slept like a baby last night, no screaming, no nightmares. I guess Shadow's plan of us keeping you company during the night worked; anyway, I made you some breakfast", said Rouge as she placed a platter of eggs, bacon and toast in front of Tails.

He thanked her as he began to eat, he was practically starving as his sleep deprivation threw his internal appetite clock out of sync and he hadn't eaten since the picnic he and Sonic had yesterday. Tails sighed sadly, he thought about Sonic and what he must've been thinking right now. Was he sad? Angry? Confused? Scared? He didn't know, all Tails knew was that he couldn't put this off, he had to go see him; he needed to apologize, to explain to Sonic what happened and that he never meant to hurt him. "Shadow, I...I want to go to the hospital and see Sonic. I feel...I feel like now is the right time to explain everything", he said. Shadow and Rouge shared a glance before nodding to one another, "Alright, we'll go. Finish your breakfast and go fix yourself up, then we'll walk to he hospital", said Shadow.

After eating breakfast, Tails put on his shoes and combed his fur before heading out the door with Shadow and Rouge and following them down the street to the hospital. Once they stepped inside, they approached the front desk. "Good morning, how can I help you?", asked the secretary. "Yes, we're here to see Sonic the Hedgehog", said Shadow. The secretary typed into her computer, "Ah yes, Sonic the Hedgehog; he's on the fourth floor, room 412. He's available for visitation, but only two people can see him right now I'm afraid", she said. Rouge patted Tails on the shoulder, "You two go upstairs and see Sonic, I'll sit here in the waiting room until you're done. Also, if Knuckles and the others show up, I can keep them preoccupied for you", she said.

Shadow and Tails walked into the elevator as it took them up to the fourth floor, all the while Tails was shaking nervously. "You're not having second thoughts are you?", asked Shadow. Tails shook his head, "No, I'm just scared. I don't know how Sonic will react when he sees me, I don't know if he'll be angry with me or if he'll be afraid of me. What if he never wants to talk to me ever again?", he said. Shadow patted him on the shoulder, "I'm not very good at giving comforting words nor can I say for sure that Sonic won't be apprehensive towards you, but I do know that if you put this off any longer, the guilt going to eat you alive until you won't be able to take it anymore. This is something you _**have**_ to do, for Sonic, for you", he said.

Tails sighed as he stepped off the elevator with Shadow and walked towards Room 412; when they opened the door, Tails gasped. Sonic laid on a bed, sleeping peacefully; his chest and abdomen were bandaged up and he had a large bandage on his right cheek, he had a breathing tube inserted into his nose and an I.V. drip attached to his left arm. Sonic also had a few electrodes attached to his chest area that were connected to a nearby machine used to monitor his pulse and heart rate, which was normal since he was fast asleep. Tails smiled as he saw that he hadn't done to much damage and that his friend was still very much alive, but that didn't stop the tears from falling as he bent over on the right side of Sonic's bed and began crying while Shadow stood on the opposite end of the bed.

Sonic let on a small groan as his eyes opened, his vision took a minute to clear up before he spotted his rival standing next to him. "Good morning, Faker. How do you feel?", said Shadow. Sonic smirked and let out a small chuckle, "I've been better, Shadow. I'm a little sore, but I'm doing okay", he said. That's when Sonic heard crying and turned to see Tails crouched next to him sobbing, Sonic reached his hand out and patted Tails on the head. Tails flinched at the sudden contact and looked up to see Sonic smiling at him, "Hey buddy, why so sad?", he said. Tails tried to smile back, but the guilt was too much and he kept crying. "Oh Sonic, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean...I just...Oh Chaos, what have done?!", Tails sobbed. Sonic stroked the top of Tails' head as his friend cried, surprising the young fox by giving him a small hug, "Tails...even though I know you did something terrible, I still have to say: I'm still very happy to see you Tails", he said.

This made Tails cry even harder, "Why? Why are you glad to see me? Don't you remember what I did? It happened only just yesterday! Why in Chaos' name are you glad to see me after I did something like that? I...I thought you'd be furious or scared of me!", said Tails. "I do remember Tails, I remember everything. I couldn't think of anything else while I was here; there was no one else I wanted to see more than you because I don't know what I did to make you do this to me. And I don't want to think its because you truly wanted to hurt me, I just can't believe it. But the fact that you're here now proves that I was right, you...you're not a killer. Are you Tails?" said Sonic.

Tails looked away from Sonic as he took deep breaths and prepared to confess, "I'm sorry, Sonic. I'm so sorry for everything, you didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to help me and I put you in the hospital for it; I can't explain why, but for weeks I've been having these terrible nightmares about an evil version of you torturing and killing me and the others. I didn't tell anyone about it until it had gotten so bad that I started hallucinating and soon couldn't distinguish between the real you and the demonic you from my nightmares. And then during that picnic, you mention playing 'Hide and Seek' just like the evil you from my dreams would say and I lost it; I thought it somehow came for me in real life and I snapped, that's why I stabbed you. It wasn't until I stopped that I realized I attacked you and not that monster. I'm sorry Sonic, I didn't mean to hurt you; I don't expect you to forgive me, but I hope that now you know why I did it, you will understand", said Tails.

"But Tails, I do forgive you", said Sonic.

"But...why?", asked Tails.

"Because I was worried about you, the way you acted back there...I knew that wasn't you. You're my best friend, and I know you would never do such a terrible thing unless there was a good reason, and after explaining it to me, I'm sorry I didn't notice how much you were suffering sooner. Just tell me, Tails, do want to be friends again? Just let's be friends and forget this whole mess?", said Sonic. Tails smiled widely as he nodded, "Well then, come over here and give me a hug, little bro", said Sonic. Tails ran up to him and gave him a hug, crying hysterically but joyfully. Shadow stood off to the side watching the scene, "Well that actually went a lot better than I expected it would, let's hope the others are as willing to forgive and forget as Sonic is", he said. Just then, a nurse walked into the room. "I'm sorry, but I have to inform you both that visiting hours are over and you'll have to leave", she said. "Go on Tails, I'll be out of here sooner than you know it. And I'm hoping I'll be out soon, this hospital food tastes like moldy seaweed. I could really go for a chili dog", said Sonic.

Tails laughed as he followed Shadow out of the room, entering the elevator and heading back to the main lobby. As they entered the lobby, Tails was suddenly whacked over the head by Knuckles' fist; as he tried to overcome the pain, he looked up to see the others were in the lobby, each of them holding expressions ranging between sympathetic to saddened. "Ouch, what was that for Knuckles?", said Tails. Knuckles' expression changed from angry to sad, "Tails, why didn't you tell us about your nightmares? I thought you were just stressed out or maybe even depressed, but I didn't know it was this bad. If you had told us, we could've helped you", he said.

That's when Tails was suddenly rushed by Amy and Cream who engulfed him in a tight but loving hug, "Rouge told us everything, Tails. We had no idea you were suffering so much, if we did this probably wouldn't have happened", said Amy as Cream cried into Tails' shoulder. Tails hugged them back, "Its not your fault, I chose not to tell you because I thought I'd be burdening you with my problems and maybe I could try to handle it myself, but given what happened to Sonic it was stupid of me not to say anything. But I'm glad that, just like Sonic, you all listened to me and understood my situation", said Tails. Shadow gave Rouge a sideways glance, "What? They came in to see Sonic, but they found out he already had visitors. So I explained the whole thing to them when they asked where Tails was", she said nonchalantly.

"Well Tails, we may have forgiven you and as of right now no one but us knows what you did, but now we need to focus on a new problem: how and why you're having these nightmares", said Silver. "And that's not the only thing: last night I woke up from this latest nightmare with claw marks on my chest. Apparently, I must've hurt myself while fighting against the evil Sonic in my dreams", said Tails. As the others were discussing how to go about helping Tails with his problem, none of them notice Blaze tense up in fear. Nightmarish versions of loved ones, vivid dreams, hallucination, violent outbursts and injuries sustained in the dream appearing in real life? Oh no...it can't be, I thought this problem was eliminated fifty years ago. How could one still be alive?, she thought.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 4, and even though Tails has made up for what he did, there's still his nightmares which have now gotten more twisted. And what does Blaze know about this? How will the others help fix Tails' problem? And what did Blaze mean when she said "I thought this problem was eliminated fifty years ago. How can one still be alive?"? What happened fifty years ago and how does it relate to Tails? Find out next time in Chapter 5; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	5. Chapter 5

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

(Warning: This chapter contains a scene of molestation, read at your own risk).

Chapter 5: Corruption

Tails and the others walked down the street as they held a conversation, "Oh by the way, Tails, how did it go with you and Sonic? Did you two make up?", asked Cream. Tails smiled, "Oh right! Well, Sonic is actually okay with everything. He forgave me for what I did, and the best part is when he gets out of the hospital, he'll...he...ugh, what the...", Tails trailed off as he placed his hand against a nearby lamppost and bent over holding his chest with his other hand. "Tails, what's wrong?", asked Knuckles. "I don't know, I just feel...kind of strange. Dizzy, almost. I kind of have a headache, actually", he said. The others became concerned for their young friend, "Maybe its the heat? Do you want some water?", asked Amy. "Maybe you should sit down if you're headache is that bad", said Shadow. Blaze helped Tails sit down on a nearby bench, "Why don't you sit down here while I go get you some water", she said. Tails sighed as he sat down, feeling his headache somewhat subside, "That might be a good idea if...oh no...", Tails trailed off again as he suddenly adopted a look of fear on his face.

"Tails, you look a little pale all of a sudden. Are you okay?", asked Amy. Tails shook as he looked behind her, standing behind her was the evil Sonic looking back at him with a look of pure anger. "Why...why are you here now?", Tails asked out loud. The others looked in the same direction as Tails, but didn't see anything. 'Uh...who are you talking to Tails?", asked Vector. Tails shook his head and the demonic creature disappeared, "No...no one, I guess the heat's getting to me", said Tails. Just then, Blaze came back with a bottle of ice cold water; Tails thanked her and downed the bottle in one go. "I know! Maybe you're just hungry, I sometimes act a little funny when I'm hungry. Let's get some lunch", said Charmy. The others agreed that getting some food would be a good idea and since his sleep deprivation had thrown his internal appetite clock out of sync, Tails was once again hungry enough to eat whole planet.

As they walked to the nearest restaurant, Shadow hung back to speak with Tails privately. "Tails, I'm not one to assume, but what happened back there wasn't a simple small heat stroke. You looked like you saw something terrible and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with your nightmares, since Rouge and I saw first hand what they can do to you last night", he said. "It had everything to do with my nightmares, Shadow. I saw...him...and this wasn't the first time. In fact, before you found me in the woods yesterday, he came before me and said he was impressed by me attacking Sonic. And then...and then he...he kissed me", said Tails. Shadow did a double-take and placed his hand upon Tails' shoulder, "Wait...he kissed you?! What the Hell do you mean he kissed you?!", asked Shadow. "I mean he placed his dirty lips against mine and even if he doesn't exist in real life, I could somehow almost feel it. It was disgusting, and the dream I had last night...he was going to do something truly terrible to me, and if you and Rouge didn't intervene in my dream, he would've succeeded", said Tails. Shadow shook his head as he pieced together what Tails meant when he said the evil Sonic was about to do something 'truly terrible', especially hearing about the kiss.

The group of friends had finally arrived to a local pizza shop and sat at a table; the ordered two large pies and no one objected to Tails taking more than two slices, they knew how hungry he was because of his condition. "Wow when you said you were hungry, you were really hungry", said Cream. "You know, something strikes me as odd, Tails: you've been suffering from nightmares and sleep deprivation, so why haven't you collapsed from exhaustion yet?", asked Espio. Tails thought about it but merely shrugged as he hadn't known why and assumed he had more stamina than he once thought. "The real question is how did we get all this food half off?", asked Silver. "I may have persuaded the waiter to lower the price for us", said Rouge as she batted her eyelashes. "Using your looks for evil? I'm surprised at you, Miss Bat", Knuckles said jokingly. Rouge flashed him a smirk, "Ooh really? Maybe next time I try to swipe the Master Emerald from you, I should flash you my gorgeous eyes. Maybe you'll be more compliant", she said.

As everyone laughed at the flustered look on Knuckles' face, Tails heard a voice behind him. _**"Psst. Hey Tails, not too preoccupied by this 'riveting' conversation to listen for a bit, are you?"**_ , it said. While the others were distracted, Tails snuck off to the men's room; after locking himself inside the large handicap stall, he was greeted by the evil Sonic. _**"Finally you got away from those chumps so we can talk"**_ , it said. Before Tails could scold it for insulting his friends, that's when he noticed something different about it; it looked bigger and stronger, almost as if it grew in muscle mass. The evil Sonic noticed that Tails saw its muscles and smirk as it began flexing, _**"Hmm, do you like what you see Tails? Don't pretend you don't because I can see you checking me out"**_ , it said. Tails shook his head, "What, no! I don't find you attractive in any way shape or form, I'm just wondering why you suddenly look so muscular when you never did before", said Tails.

The evil Sonic laughed and said, _**"Well let's respond to that statement with a question: why did Espio ask you why you hadn't collapsed from exhaustion yet? Did you ever wondered why you seem so full of energy for someone who hasn't slept probably for the past few weeks?"**_. Tails thought about it for a minute before his eyes widened, the demon smiling at his realization. _**"That's right, you have me to thank for that. After hearing your conversation with Shadow, I think its high time I finally tell that I am real; I'm not a figment of your imagination, I am a real creature. Though this isn't what I really look like, its...the best I can describe it as is a costume of your buddy Sonic I manufactured from your memories of him. And if you trying to think of what kind of creature I am, again the best I can describe myself as is a parasite; I've been feeding off the negative energy created from your nightmares and its made me stronger while you're getting weaker. But unlike most parasites, once I've completely drained all the energy from you I'll be able to survive outside of your body, too bad you'll die once we separate. In fact, the only reason you haven't collapsed into a coma yet is because of the fact that we're still joined in a symbiotic bond and even if I've got a nice bod now, I'm still too weak to leave your body"**_ , it said.

Tails gasped in horror and backed into the wall of the handicap stall, "So...that kiss-", he was immediately cut off when the evil Sonic pinned him to the wall, trapping him in place by putting his arms on either side of him. _**"Its because of the energy I'm draining from you that I suddenly feel so real, I'm gaining a stronger outer form because of that energy and that's why I feel like I'm really here touching you when no one else can see or hear me"**_ , it said. Tails began to breathe heavily, "Why...why are you telling me this? You never told me any of this before", said Tails. _**"Because you need to know this, you need to know why you can suddenly feel me doing this"**_ , said the evil Sonic. Before Tails could ask what he meant, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his lower body; he looked down and saw that the demon was rubbing his hand against Tails' nether regions. Tails tried to move away or push him away, but he suddenly felt weak and dizzy as if this action was causing more of his energy to be drained.

 _ **"Ah so you noticed. When I said I feed off negative energy, I meant it. Anything you feel that you deem unpleasant creates this energy that fuels me, but honestly from the look on your face, you're enjoying it. Plus, I decided to make up for our fun night being rudely interrupted by that emo hedgehog and his jewelry obsessed friend. Its such a shame you'll be gone by the time I'm done with you, you are such a tender little cotton ball of madness and chaos and I f***ing love it!"**_ , it said as it rubbed Tails even harder. Tails began gasping, as much as he hated this, his body was betraying him and responding to the pleasant stimuli; before this could go any further, however, Tails snapped back to reality and kicked the demon in the face. The evil Sonic grunted and laughed, _**"You can fight me as much as you want, Tails. But at the end of the day, I'll be the one calling the shots and you'll be the one stuck in this prison of the mind. And I have something special planned for your friends, just you wait"**_ , it said before finally disappearing.

Tails punched the wall next to him before running out of the bathroom and out of the restaurant entirely, his friends quickly caught sight of him as he bolted towards the door. "Tails, what's wrong? Are you okay"?, asked Silver as he walked over and placed a hand on Tails' shoulder. Tails quickly spun around, slapping Silver across the face. "DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU SICK FREAK!", he screamed before leaving the restaurant. Silver as well as the others were stunned by the outburst, "I'm going after him", said Shadow as he went after the young fox. Blaze had once again tensed up in fear. _Oh no its getting worse...I have to follow Shadow before its too late_ , she thought as she snuck out and followed them.

Shadow had stopped just outside his house where he saw steam coming out of his bathroom window, "What's he doing up there?", he asked. He went upstairs, opened the bathroom door and found Tails sitting in the tub crying as the shower blasted steaming water onto his body. "H-h-hey s-s-s-Shadow..." said Tails. "Tails, what happened to you back at the restaurant? You were scared something awful and when Silver went to check on you, you slapped him in the face", said Shadow. Tails sniffed, "He came back again, Shadow, and...and...he t-t-touched me! He put his hand in-down there and was rubbing me, and...and...I was enjoying it! I didn't like it but...but my body turned against me. Oh Shadow...I've never felt so...so...dirty!", he sobbed. Shadow looked at him with sympathy as he passed the bottle of body wash to him, "Well here, use this to scrub yourself down", he said.

Tails reached out for the bottle but before he grabbed it, his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell forward; Shadow reached over and caught the young fox, "Tails? Tails are you alright?", asked Shadow. He pulled Tails out of the tub and quickly dried him off, lying him down on the couch, "What happened to you? Why did you just pass out like that?", asked Shadow. After ten minutes, Tails opened his eyes again and looked around the room with a dazed and confused look on his face. "Tails, you're awake", said Shadow. Tails looked at him, "Oh Shadow...so that's what you really sound like. How long was he out?", he asked.

"You weren't out for too long, just ten minutes really-wait...who's 'he'?", said Shadow.

"He who?", asked Tails.

"You asked how long 'he' was out. Who's 'he'?", asked Shadow.

Tails suddenly smiled, "He...ah, that. I was talking about Tails", he said.

"You were talking about yourself...in the third person perspective?", asked a confused Shadow.

"No Shadow. I was talking about Tails, from an observant perspective".

Shadow was even more confused than before, he didn't understand why Tails was speaking this way or why he almost had a devious look on his face. "Um, Tails...are you feeling alright? You seem kind of, I don't know, confused", he said. Tails smiled again, "I feel absolutely fine, Shadow. Don't worry about Tails either, he's perfectly safe...for now. Locked away in my world, deep in his mind. You had no idea how hard it was to be able to meet you, Shadow, but I do feel that it was worth it", he said. Shadow was beginning to feel uneasy, "What are you talking about, Tails?", he asked. Tails smirked, "I'm not sure how else I can put this Shadow, I'm not Tails. But I wouldn't expect you to know what I am anyway. I'm the thing Tails has been going on about for weeks, the thing that's been plaguing his mind with nightmares. Even if he hadn't attacked your fast blue friend, you'd still be clueless about what I am or where I came from. I think the only one who knows anything about me is that fiery cat and so she should because her family destroyed mine! And now, I'm going to take it all back", he said.

Before Shadow could ask what he meant, Tails suddenly wrapped his hands around his throat and began to strangle him. "t-t-t-Tails...what...are you...doing...?", Shadow choked out. Tails smirked evilly, "Eliminating a distraction! You and your bat friend interrupted my time with Tails last night and now I'm gonna make sure you're not around to keep his will strong!", he said as his hands tightened around Shadow's throat. Shadow gasped as he struggled to breathe, but before he could stop breathing altogether, someone punched Tails in the back of the head knocking him unconscious.

Shadow sat up and gasped for air as he saw Blaze standing over him, pulling out a length of rope and began tying Tails up. "Blaze what are you doing here?", he asked. "I'll explain, after you call the others and tell them to come over here. You all need to hear this because I know what's happening to Tails", she said. Shadow picked up the phone and began to call the others and told them to come to his house; once they came, they were asked by Blaze to sit down so she could explain what was really going on.

"Long ago, long before I met Silver, my grandmother still ruled over my home of the Sol Dimension as I was not born yet and my mother herself was still an infant at the time. My people were not the only ones who lived in my home dimension, one day a group of hikers exploring the remote country side had discovered a group of small creatures called The Somno Canibus; they were small dog-like creatures with pure white fur, red eyes, long furry antennae and large bat-like wings on their backs. They had appeared frail and weak, as if they were sick; when they were brought back to the city, they revealed that they live in symbiotic relationships with other creatures, feeding off the positive energy created from good dreams. They were sick because their original home had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption and they weren't able to find new hosts, and if they spent more than a day outside of a host without eating they'd slowly weaken and die.

"My grandmother, who was currently queen, took pity on them and allowed them to live in the kingdom with us; the Somno Canibus were happy and began taking on many hosts among the citizens and peacefully fed upon the positive energy created from pleasant dreams, the hosts remained unaffected by the symbiotic relationship as well. Then one night, one of the Somno Canibus noticed their host was having a nightmare and out of curiosity, decided to feed off the negative energy generated from it. The nightmare corrupted him and turned him evil, and he continued to drain more and more energy until his host died. He then convinced the other Somno Canibus to feed off negative energy and become stronger; soon all but one was corrupted and began feeding off more and more negative energy from their hosts, killing them and allowing the Somno Canibus to exist outside of their bodies without dying.

"My grandmother, who was the host of the only pure Somno Canibus left named Moonlight, saw what was happening and ordered all the Somno Canibus to be captured and exterminated to prevent anymore of our citizens from dying; even though they gained strength from their hosts, the Somno Canibus were still not strong enough to overpower the royal army. Moonlight, despite my grandmother trying to convince her not to, ask that she'd be executed as well for she feared she'd accidently feed off of nightmare energy and become evil and kill the queen, and that was fifty years ago. My mother told me this story when I was much younger, she told me that the hosts of the evil Somno Canibus would experience vivid dreams, hallucinations, mood shifts, violent outbursts and sometimes if the hosts fought back, any injuries they sustained in the dreams would appear in real life.

"I recognized these symptoms in Tails but I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe but there was no denying it: a Somno Canibus had survived and escaped from the Sol Dimension, came to this dimension and had somehow survived without a host long enough before finding a new one in Tails", she said. The group was stunned by the story Blaze had just told them, they couldn't believe such a thing could happen nor could they believe such a thing was happening to Tails. "But wait a minute, that doesn't explain why Tails started speaking in the third person perspective or why he tried to choke me to death", said Shadow.

Blaze sighed sadly as she stroked the unconscious Tails' head, "When the Somno Canibus had grown tired of consuming nightmare energy, they began to slowly devour their host's souls and this allows them to take possession of their bodies for a limited amount of time. If the host's will is weak, the Somno Canibus can take full control of their body and use their abilities; if the host's will is strong, then the Somno Canibus can only take partial control and do limited damage, such as what happened to Tails when he tried to strangle you and spoke in third person. I hated to say this, but Tails has become a host of a Somno Canibus and if we don't find a way to destroy it, it will kill Tails, gain his abilities and most likely continue what its kind had started fifty years ago", she said. Everyone soon adopted a look of fear and uncertainty as they all looked at Tails, they hadn't expect this to go far deeper than they originally realized.

Author's Note: Well that's it for Chapter 5 and things are starting to get real. Now that our heroes have realized what's really wrong with Tails, will they be able to save him or is it too late for them to help their young friend? Found out next time in Chapter 6; oh and by the way, Somno Canibus is Latin for "Dogs of Sleep". Until next time, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	6. Chapter 6

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 6: Enter the Mindscape

The group sat around Tails as the young fox laid unconscious and bound in rope on Shadow's couch, they were now very apprehensive of him now that Blaze had explained that he was being used as a host for a parasitic creature called a Somno Canibus.

And now they sat there wondering how they could stop the creature from feeding on Tails' energy, slowly draining him.

Just then, Tails quickly shot up and struggled to break free as he had realized he was tied up, "Guys...what's going on here? Why am I tied up?", he asked innocently. Blaze glared at him, "Its to keep you from hurting anyone else, Somno Canibus. And you can drop the act, I know you're not really Tails", she said.

Tails growled then shook his head and when he looked up again, one of his eyes had turned pitch black with a blood red iris much like the evil Sonic from his dreams. "Oh my, what's wrong with Tails' eye?", asked Cream fearfully. "Its a side-effect of the Somno Canibus trying to take control of his body but Tails has too much will power for it to take full control. Its something the Somno Canibus-"

"Nightshade".

Blaze was interrupted when she turned towards Tails, "What did you say?", she asked. Tails snarled, "My name is Nightshade, but of course you'd just keep calling me by my species' name because I'm nothing but a parasite to you. An insect is all I am, well this _insect_ has your little fox friend held captive in his own mind", he said.

Knuckles stepped forward and grabbed Tails' body by the chest fur, "Listen you little leech, you better let Tails go or so help me, I'll-"

"You'll do what? Punch me? Go ahead, I won't feel it but Tails will. Don't you get it? I exist only in Tails' mind and I won't be able to safely exit it until I drain him of all his energy, and its taking me a while considering how strong his resolve his. You can't hurt me from the outside and doing so will only cause Tails pain. Do you want to hurt him?", said Nightshade.

Knuckles realized what he said was true and sadly let go of Tails' body, "Then how do we even stop you?", he asked.

"You can't, unless you find a way to enter his mindscape, Tails belongs to me. Oh but by all means, just take your time trying to figure out a way to get in here. Just now that by the time you finish coming up with a plan, I'll have long since gotten out. And Blaze, I'm going to save you for last on my list of people to destroy because even if your grandmother is no longer around, there is one member of your family I can make suffer: you!", said Nightshade before he closed his eyes and passed out again.

Shadow turned towards Blaze, "Is what he said true? Can we actually save Tails by entering his mind?", he asked. "Yes, if two of us can enter Tails' mind, we could fight him and pull him out here to the real world where he won't be able to survive. But when my grandmother had done that, she had used some type of incantation and she never told anyone what it was", she said.

Before the group began to lose hope, Amy spoke up. "What if we used a machine for that?", she asked.

"What do you mean?", asked Blaze.

"What if we built a machine that allowed a person to enter someone else's mind? We could use it to go into Tails' mind and fight that lousy little parasite, and save Tails", said Amy.

The group pondered this and agree that it was a brilliant idea, "There's only one problem: who's going to build this machine? Tails can't do it because I doubt Nightshade will let him go or let him build a machine that will allow two of his friends to go into his mind and save him, and Tails is the only one with the technical knowledge to build it", said Espio.

Everyone mentally slapped themselves as they realized this, "So...there's nothing we can do to help Tails?" said Cream as she started to cry. As hopelessness began to set in, Shadow stepped forward. "We can't give up, there is a way to help Tails. I know someone else who can build the machine, though you're not going to like it, you'll just have to trust me", he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman was in the kitchen area of his base when Cubot came in. "Oh what is it now, Cubot? Can't you see I'm trying to make a sandwich here?", he said gesturing to the half finished egg salad sandwich on the countertop. "Um...I hate to bother you sir, but Sonic's friends are outside of the base again asking to be let in", he said. Eggman grumbled in annoyance before he went to open the door and was greeted by Shadow, "What do you want? I already told the rest of you pests that I didn't attack Sonic", he said. "We know, but we need your help with something else now", said Shadow.

After a brief explanation from Blaze, Eggman sat and pondered for a bit. "So you want me to construct a device that will allow you to enter Tails' mind and rid him of this parasite?", he asked. Blaze nodded, "Yes it's the only way to save him and possibly the world, we must destroy this Somno Canibus before he becomes too powerful", she said. Eggman stood up, "Well even though I despise all of you, I'll build this machine. I don't want some lousy little parasite stealing away my chance of world domination. Give me about an hour or so, I'll have it done by then. In the meantime, decide which two of you is going in there", he said.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Cream's mother, Vanilla, and Cheese were paying Sonic another visit; the doctor said it'd be good for him to get out of bed for a bit and get some fresh air, so she was pushing him around the hospital courtyard in a wheelchair. Sonic was also happily enjoying a plate of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies Vanilla brought him, it was a nice change from the nasty and sometimes unrecognizable hospital food.

"The Doctor said you might able to go home tomorrow morning, Sonic," she said. "Well that's good news, I'm getting tired of the gross food and the smell of sick people. By the way, how's Tails doing?", he said absentmindedly petting Cheese's head who had sat in his lap. Vanilla tensed up, her daughter had called her before she went to visit Sonic and told her what was really going on with Tails and what the others were planning to do to help him. She almost didn't want to tell Sonic about it because she didn't want him to worry, but she knew it was unfair not to tell him.

"The others found out that Tails is being infected by some sort of parasite that's draining him of his energy, they went to Dr. Eggman to see if he'd build a machine that will let two of them go into Tails' mind to stop it before it kills him", said Vanilla. Sonic's eyes went wide, "What?! I have to help him! I need to get out of this hospital!", he shouted. He tried to get up out of the wheelchair but Vanilla pushed him back down, "Sonic no! You're still hurt, the doctor said you can't push yourself or else you might open up your wounds. Remember, they're removing your stitches tomorrow", she said.

Sonic looked up at her with pleading eyes, "I don't care, I have to save Tails! Please Vanilla, you have to help me get out of here and get me to Eggman's base! Tails is my best friend, I...I can't just let him die", he said as tears began to well up in his eyes. The sight broke Vanilla's heart and so she tried to think of a way to get Sonic out of the hospital without anyone noticing; just then, she spotted one of the patients from the hospital's mental ward, an orange raccoon, wandering around the courtyard, spazzing out and muttering things to himself.

 _I don't want to have to mess with a mentally ill person but Sonic is good friend of mine and my daughter. I have to do this_ , she thought as she approached the unhinged raccoon. "Hey, those people in the white clothes aren't looking, you should try jumping over the wall there", she whispered to him while gesturing to the tall stone wall that surrounded the courtyard. The raccoon babbled incoherently as he tried jumping over the wall, but when he was halfway over it, Vanilla shouted "We have a runner!".

Just then several hospital orderlies came running over to stop the mentally ill raccoon and while they were distracted, Vanilla picked up Sonic out of his wheelchair and carried him over the wall by flying with her large ears, Cheese flying after them. "Nice work, Vanilla. Oh and thank you", said Sonic. Vanilla smiled at him as she flew in the direction of Eggman's base, "It's the least I could do after you've helped my daughter and I so many times in the past, I just hope I'll never have to do something like that again", she said.

Back at Eggman's base, the group discussed who would volunteer to enter Tails' mind. "Well it's obvious that Blaze should be one of the ones going in, she's the only one who knows anything about this parasite", said Vector. The other agreed that that was the smartest choice but they still needed to find a second person to go in with Blaze, "I think I should go with her", said Silver.

"No, I'll go in. I'm the first one who noticed that something was up with Tails", said Knuckles.

"Yeah but didn't really know what was going on. Anyway, I was the one who found him after the incident and decided to give him some real help, I should go in", said Shadow.

"No way, Shadow. That parasite made Tails hurt Sonic, I'm going in so I can give it a piece of my mind", said Amy.

Everyone soon got into an arguement about the situation, Eggman stood off to the side watching as he had informed them he finished building the machine two minutes prior to the conversation. Just then he heard knocking on his door and went to answer it, "Well it's a good thing you're here, maybe you can settle this", he said. He walked back into the room and whistled to get everyone's attention, "Hey look who's here", he said. He stepped aside to reveal Vanilla holding Sonic and Cheese floating near them, "Momma, what are you doing here?", asked Cream.

"Nevermind that, Sonic what are you doing here? You should be in the hospital recovering", said Knuckles. "Vanilla filled me in on what's going on and I'm here because I'm going with Blaze into Tails' head!", he said. Before anyone could argue with him, he said, "Look, this parasite is infecting my best friend and I'm the one he attacked. I should've been the first to see that there was something wrong with Tails but I didn't, and it resulting in me ending up in the hospital and Tails fighting for his life. I have to do this, I have to save my best buddy or else I'm gonna lose him forever".

After hearing that, no one argued with Sonic and Eggman led them into the room where the machine was. The machine had a large control panel beneath a monitor, there were what looked like three gurneys positioned beneath a three metal helmets attached to the main part of the machine by clear tubes. On one of these gurneys laid Tails: he was strapped to the gurney by his wrists, ankles and waist, and he had the hemlet strapped onto his head.

"Why is Tails tied up like that?", asked Charmy. "It's to keep him hurting himself or anyone else in case he has an adverse reaction. Now, Sonic and Blaze, lie down so I can strap you in as well", said Dr. Eggman. Vanilla laid Sonic on one gurney while Blaze laid on the other, Eggman placed straps on them as well and place the helmets on their heads before walking over to the control panel.

"Now then, when I press this button, your consciousness will be transferred into Tails' mind. From there, you'll have to figure out how to stop that parasite on your own, but the monitor above you will allow us to watch your progress. And here's a warning for the rest of you: no matter what you see or hear, you mustn't try to wake Sonic or Blaze up or you could end up trapping them inside Tails' mind forever. Okay let's get started: this might hurt a bit but then you'll both feel numb", he said.

Dr. Eggman pushed the button and the machine started up, Sonic and Blaze tensed as they felt a painful amount of electric shocks run through their system but after ten seconds, their eyes closed and they fell unconscious. Eggman pushed another button to turn on the monitor, allowing him and the others to see what was happening. Sonic slowly opened his eyes and sat up, he noticed he no longer had any bandages on but he realized it was because this wasn't his real self but his dream self; a groan caught his attention and he turned to see Blaze waking up next to him. He helped her stand up, "Did it work? Are we inside Tails' mind?", she asked before looking up and gasping at what she saw.

They were in Green Hill, but it was different and terrifying: the sky was pitch black, the nearby sea was red with blood, the mountains on the other side were crumbling and on fire, and worst of all, there were rotting corpses of Flickies and other woodland critters either impaled on spikes along the grassy path or hanging by their entrails from trees like piñatas. Blaze shook her head in fearful disgust as Sonic finally said, "Well...I can safely say I didn't see this coming, but I'm suddenly wishing I did".

Author's Note: That ends Chapter 6, sorry for the long wait, I was going through writers block and I don't have a lot time during the day, especially when I'm at work, to get these done. Well, now that Blaze and Sonic have entered Tails' mind, what'll happen next? Will they find Nightshade and stop him? Or are they already too late to save Tails? Find out next time in Chapter 7, until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 singing out!


	7. Chapter 7

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 7: Meeting the Extensions

Sonic's friends looked on in horror as they saw exactly what Tails' mindscape had transformed into, "I knew it was bad, but I never thought it'd be this bad!", said Knuckles. "Bad? This is awful, its like we're looking into the very depths of Hell itself!", said Amy. Vanilla quickly covered Cream's ears and glared towards Amy after she said that, "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to use that kind of language around Cream", said Amy. They looked into the monitor and saw Sonic and Blaze looking around them in confusion and fear, even they couldn't comprehend what they were seeing and they were actually _inside_ this terrible place. "And now, Sonic and Blaze have to endure this madness in order to save Tails' life. Let's all hope they succeed in doing so", said Shadow. Vector, who stood behind Shadow, suddenly heard a crunching sound above his head; he turned and, much to his annoyance, saw Charmy munching on a bag of popcorn. "Charmy, what the Hell?! Oops, sorry Vanilla", shouted Vector before covering his mouth as Vanilla once again covered Cream's ears and glared at him. "What? We don't know how long they're gonna take in there, so I figured I'd have a snack", said Charmy. Espio then smacked the popcorn bag out of Charmy's hands, "We're not watching a movie, Charmy, we're watching our friends risking their lives to save our other friend. Please take this seriously", he said. Charmy pouted but chose to stay quiet as he looked back at the screen.

Meanwhile back inside Tails' mind, Sonic shivered violently. "Oh geez, its freezing in here! Why is it so cold in here?!", he shouted. Blaze shivered as well, the cold air was especially uncomfortable for her because of her fire-based powers, "It must be because of Nightshade corrupting Tails' mind, its become a cold and lifeless place. But we can't let that slow us down, we have to find the core", she said. Sonic looked at her in confusion, "The core?", he asked. "Think of it as the main control center of Tails' mind. The only reason Nightshade hasn't taken full control of Tails' is because there is something in the core of his mind that remains untainted, if we can find it and keep from Nightshade long enough, he'll begin to lose power. And then we'll be able to pull him out", she said.

Sonic and Blaze began walking along the blood covered grassy path, freezing cold winds blowing against them; Sonic dropped down onto his knees as he couldn't walk any further, "Sonic, what's wrong?", asked Blaze. Sonic shivered as he blow air into his hands, "b-b-b-b-Blaze, I-I-I c-c-can't keep w-w-walking! Its t-t-too c-c-cold, I-I-I c-c-can't feel m-m-my l-l-legs!", he stuttered. Looking at him in sympathy, Blaze put her hands together and concentrated; her hands began to heat up from her fire powers but not so much that her hands became on fire. She then rubbed her heated hands along her arms before wrapping them around Sonic's body; Sonic sighed in content as he felt himself warm up and the feeling return to his legs, he then stood up. "Thanks Blaze, that really helped. Now let's get going", he said as he continued walking.

But as he took one step, they both heard a loud whirring sound; they turned around and to their horror they saw Metal Sonic, but he looked far different than he normally looked. Instead of blue, he was black and rusted; there was blood dripping down his eyes, which were dark purple instead of red, and his fingers looked more like razor sharp claws. "What? What's Metal doing here?", asked Sonic. " _ **You are intruding in the Master's domain, you must be eliminated!**_ ", said Metal Sonic as his claw-like fingers grew longer and he began flying towards them. "Sonic, run!", shouted Blaze as they both took off in the opposite direction. "Seriously, though, why is Metal Sonic even here?!", asked Sonic. "Nightshade must've looked through Tails' memories and created a twisted version of Metal as his servant, he must know we're here and is trying to get rid of us", said Blaze.

As they kept running, Sonic and Blaze suddenly fell through the ground, disappearing from Metal's view; when Metal flew over to where they had fallen, there was just flat, grassy and bloody ground. He punched the ground in anger before receiving a transmission, " _ **Metal Sonic, did you catch them**_?", said Nightshade on the other end. " _ **No Master, they seemed to have disappeared**_ ", said Metal. There was an angry growl on the other end followed by a sigh, " ** _Find them and bring them to me! Someone or something has stolen the untainted part of Tails' core and if they find it before I do, I'm done for. I've studied and corrupted this place, there can't be too many places for them to hide. FIND THEM NOW!_** ", said Nightshade. Metal Sonic nodded before flying off.

Back in the real world, everyone was just as surprised as Metal was, not just by his twisted appearance, but also by the fact that Sonic and Blaze had suddenly vanished. "Where did they go?", asked Amy. The monitor view then scrolled down until there was nothing but darkness before a spotlight appeared, it shone down over Sonic and Blaze as they laid unconscious in the half-lit room; Sonic let out a groan as he woke up and sat up, rubbing his head. "Man, that fall really hurt", he said. Blaze then woke up as she looked around, "What happened? Where are we?", she asked. Before they could figure out where they were, they heard another sound; it was the sound of cute, high-pitched squeaking sound.

The spotlight grew and illuminated the rest of the dark room, revealing the source of the squeaking: there were six chao hovering above them, smiling at them. Each Chao was a different color and the yellow circles at the top of their heads had cartoon faces on them, "Its a bunch of Chao", said Sonic. Blaze's eyes widened in realization, "These aren't just any Chao, look at their colors and the faces above their heads. Are they-"

"Yes they are".

Sonic and Blaze were caught off-guard by the sound of another voice, walking out from behind the Chao was what looked like Tails; Sonic was about to run up and hug his best friend, but he then realized that this wasn't the real Tails. This Tails was small like the Chao, his fur was pure white and his eyes were bright green instead of blue. "Who are you? What are these Chao doing here? And why do you look like Tails?", asked Sonic. The small white Tails smiled and said, "My name is Yume, I'm an extention of Tails' mind and I'm the one in charge of making Tail's dreams and storing his memories. These Chao are also extensions of Tails' mind, they are in charge of making Tails' emotions. The orange one is Kōfuku, she makes Tails happy. The blue one is Kanashimi, he makes Tails sad. The dark red one is Ikari, he makes Tails angry. The red one is Yūki, she makes Tails brave. The pink one is Ai, she brings Tails love and the black one is Osore, he makes Tails afraid and he's been working overtime lately".

Blaze walked up to them, "I knew it, you're all extensions of Tails' mind and you've taken the form of Chao to represent Tail's innocence. We came here to save him from Nightshade, can you tell us what happened here after he came?", she said.

Yume and the six Chao looked down in sadness, "At the center of Tails' mind we live in a cloud castle, doing our job of keeping peace and balance within his mind; I made his good dreams and stored away his memories while the Chao allowed him to feel the right emotions during the right occasions. Then Nightshade came and everything went downhill: he forced me and Ai to open up Tails' memories and show he who he loved most, and every memory pointed to you Sonic. Nightshade made a tasteless joke about you two being a couple but in actuality the love Tails' has for you is equal to the love between a pair of brothers; Nightshade took your form but he twisted it into something awful, something evil!

"He began warping Tails' mindscape into his personal hellish playground and locked us in the dungeon while took control of the core. We didn't know what he was up to until Osore started producing more and more fear in Tails; Nightshade created nightmares to torment Tails in order to create negative energy to feed on. At first, he tortured Tails with the idea that his best friend/big brother would turn against him but then he forced me to show him more memories; he saw that Tails had other friends and created physical forms of them to torture in front of Tails, which made things worse.

"I realized that if I let Nightshade go too far, Tails' mind would collapse and he'd die. So during the dream where Nightshade was going to "have his way with Tails", I created physical forms of Shadow and Rouge to distract him while we escaped. Then I stole the only untainted part of the mind core and we hid away here in Tails' subconscious where he can't reach us, we've kept it safe from him and that's why Tails' mind hasn't been broken yet. Look, this is it", he said.

He reached into the darkness and pulled out a flower pot and in it was a rather large and beautiful flower: it had a long dark green stem, large light green leaves and luminous pink petals. Seeing the flower, Sonic looked down in sadness which Blaze found confusing, "Sonic, what's wrong?", she asked.

Back in the real world, everyone except Silver also looked down in sadness. "I don't get it, what's up with that flower?", he asked. "Its...its Cosmo", whispered Amy. "I'm sorry, who?", asked Silver. "You wouldn't know her because this was before we met, but she was a friend of ours. Tails was a lot closer to her than we were and she helped us defeat the Metarex, who wanted to wipe out all animal in the universe and replace it with plant life. When the Metarex became too powerful, Cosmo sacrificed herself to save the universe; Tails was really broken up about it because all that was left of her afterwards was a seed, he keeps it in a flower pot in his workshop and day-by-day, it slowly began growing into a flower. I haven't seen it recently but I'm guessing this flower in his mind is the exact same flower", said Knuckles. As the information sank in, Silver understood and felt sympathy for Tails as he went through a similar experience with Blaze, only she came back.

Back in Tails' mind, Blaze also came to understand the sentiments behind the beautiful flower; Sonic took a closer look at the flower and noticed something small and yellow entangled by its stamen, he took an even closer look and saw that it was the real Tails. He was about the same size as a mouse, a regular mouse, and he appeared to be asleep; the flower's stamen were wrapped tightly and almost protectively around his body, "Its Tails! But...but why is he so tiny?", asked Sonic. "Nightshade pulled Tails within his mind and locked him away, but while he was distracted by Shadow again, I freed him and brought him here. I shrunk him and put him the flower to keep him safe; this flower represents the last piece of Tails' innocence, the type of innocence that one has before giving it up to the one they love when they become one", said Yume.

Now it was Sonic's turn to be confused, "I don't get, what does that even mean?", he asked. Blaze shook her head, "Its virginity, Sonic. This flower represents Tails' virginity, which explains why his mind hasn't broken apart yet. Yume is right, usually when someone loses their virginity, they've given it up to their lover but if someone like Nightshade just takes it from you, your mind begins to collapse from the intense emotional and physical trauma", she said. Being as immature as he was, it took a minute for Sonic to comprehend what Blaze was talking about and it made him cringe a little. "O...oh, okay. I get it, so what happens if Nightshade gets his hands on this flower?", he said.

Yume held the flower closer to his body, "Its not the flower he wants but rather what's in it, I've hidden Tails in the flower to keep him safe and help preserve that last of his strength and sanity, but if Nightshade gets his hands on him he'll steal away Tails' virginity. If that happens, Tails' mind will break and he'll want nothing more than to die, and Nightshade will have enough power to escape", he said. "So how do we even save Tails then?", asked Sonic. "We have to restore positive energy back to Tails, and to do that we need to open up his bank of good memories. When that happens, Tails will regain his strength and Nightshade will lose power and you can then pull him out into the real world. We'll come with because we know this place better than even Nightshade does; we need to get back to the castle where the core is, that's where the memories are stored", said Yume.

Sonic and Blaze smiled and shook Yume's hand as the Emotion Chao all cheered, "But wait, there's a creepy version of Metal Sonic flying around out there looking for us and I'm sure he's looking for you guys as well. How are we gonna get past him without getting caught?", asked Sonic. Yume laughed before he nodded towards Ikari who clapped his little hands together; Sonic and Blaze covered their eyes as they were engulfed in a bright light, and when they opened them again, they saw that Yume and the Chao had turned into bloody and twisted versions of themselves. Yume then held up a mirror in front of them and showed them that Blaze had half of her missing and Sonic turned into a twisted version of Silver with his stomach cut open and his intestine wrapped around his throat.

"Metal Sonic isn't the only minion Nightshade created, he also made several zombie-like versions of Tails' friends to wander around and inform him of where we're hiding. If we run into any, they'll think we're just like them and leave us alone. Sonic, since Nightshade is already walking around looking like you, I made you look like Silver so as not to raise suspicion. It was pretty simple since you guys look similar", said Yume.

"We don't look anything like each other at all!", said Sonic and Silver in embarrassment.

Yume laughed as he sealed the flower inside a transparent bubble and hid it inside his chest fur, then he opened up the subconscious to allow them to exit back onto Green Hill. "Follow me, we have to travel northward to the castle and I must warn you, we may be safe so long as we're in disguise but there are still dangers lurking around here. Nightshade will stop at nothing to steal all of Tails' energy and he'll do anything, and I mean _anything_ , to have it", he said. Sonic and Blaze looked at each other in fearful anticipation as they followed Yume and the Emotion Chao along the hill, whatever was coming up next, they were very sure they weren't going to like it one bit.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 7, and I hope you all liked it. The inspiration for Yume and the Emotion Chao came to me because I was thinking about the movie "Inside Out" when coming up with this chapter. The idea of your mind itself being so personified that your emotions are living beings that control what you feel is actually pretty cool so I tried doing something like that here; let me know what you think and come back soon for Chapter 8. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	8. Chapter 8

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 8: The Forest of Lost Hope

Yume lifted part of the ground up and took a look around to make sure the coast was clear, "Okay, come on. Let's hurry and get out in the open before anyone spots us", he whispered. He stepped out and held the lid so that Sonic, Blaze and the Emotion Chao could exit the subconscious; once they were out, Yume pushed the lid back down. "Alright now where do we go from here?", asked Sonic who was still disguised as a zombified Silver.

Yume stood up and pointed in the direction of a bunch of shadowy shapes, "In that direction is "The Forest of Lost Hope", it used to be a physical representation of peace and serenity but now it's a nightmarish place filled with monsters. Once we go through it, all we have to do is climb a ladder up to my cloud castle and find Tails' good memories. Stay close to the Chao and I, we don't want either of you getting lost in here", he said.

Sonic and Blaze nodded towards each other before following the small white fox and the Emotion Chao towards the dark forest. Suddenly, they all heard a loud whirring sound as Metal Sonic dropped down in front of them; the small group stood silently as the twisted robot scanned them, a red beam passing over their bodies three times. Metal's eyes flashed red for a second, " _ **Scan complete. Status: Intruders-negative, Master Nightshade's servants-affirmative. Have you spotted the intruders, fellow minions?**_ ", he asked.

Yume stepped forward, "No, we haven't seen the Hedgehog or Cat anywhere. They could be hiding in the darker recesses of the host's mind, perhaps you should search for them there", he said in a raspy voice. Metal Sonic nodded as he took off and flew away in the opposite direction; Yume turned and smiled at his new friends before continuing towards the forest. Once they got there, they as well as the group outside in the real world, saw the forest for the nightmarish landscape it truly was.

The trees were insanely tall, their leaves were a sickly pale green color and their trunks were as black as night. Between the trees were bushes and shrubs that were a sludgy purple color and had bloodstains on their leaves; from the branches of the trees were dead animals that were hung by their entrails and on the ground were black rocks in various sizes that had maggots crawling all over them. To put simply: this was the Devil's forest.

As the group traveled through the forest, they heard a variety of sounds from high pitched screaming to hungry growls to distant laughter. That's when they suddenly heard quiet sobbing, they ran towards the source of the sound and found Amy sitting at the base of one the trees; she was crying into her hands and her clothes were stained with blood and dirt.

Sonic, despite trying to keep the appearance and behavior of an evil zombified Silver, he couldn't stop himself from running up to her to see if she was okay. "Amy, are you alright?", he asked. When she heard his voice, she looked up and gasped in horror. "No, don't be scared. I'm actually the real Sonic and I'm here to help save Tails from Nightshade", Sonic whispered as he smiled reassuringly.

Amy breathed a sigh of relief and stood up on her shaky legs, "Oh thank goodness, you have to stop him. He's pure evil; not only has he created monstrous versions of your friends, but he created normal ones like me for the monsters to hunt down and kill for his amusement. I managed to escape from one of them, I can show to a shortcut that'll take you to the edge of the forest", she said as she walked further into the forest.

Blaze turned towards Yume and asked, "Can we trust her? How do we know she isn't one of those monsters trying to trick us?"

Yume nodded and smiled, "She's telling the truth, there really are normal physical forms of your friends being hunted by monsters for Nightshade's amusement, and I can tell she's telling the truth about the shortcut. We should follow her", he said. The group traveled further into the forest, with Sonic staying close by Amy to keep her safe and calm; suddenly, they heard a twig snap behind them.

They and the others in the real world gasped in shock as they saw a twisted version of Knuckles standing behind them, his eyes were black and red with blood dripping from them, and he had a vacant expression on his face. Sonic, thinking he could talk his way out of this, stepped towards him. "Hey there...um, follow servant of Nightshade, we were...just uh hunting through the forest. You made any easy kills lately?", he said nervously.

The fake Knuckles didn't respond but rather he opened his mouth and, to everyone's horror, four long slimy tendrils protruded from deep within his throat; each tentacle was muscular and purplish-red in color, and there was a row of razor sharp teeth above and below the tentacles that glistened with black oozing saliva. He growled hungrily as he slowly crept towards them, his eyes glowing brightly.

Sonic backed away slowly from the twisted version of his friend, "Yume, what's going on? I figured if I talk to him, he'd be convinced that were one of Nightshade's servants and just walk away. Why is he stalking towards us looking like he might eat us?", said Sonic. Yume was shaking in fear, "I'm sorry but...I may have forgotten to mention that some of the monsters are non-sentient, and only respond to Nightshade's commands like guard dogs. We need to run, now!", he screamed as he ran off into the forest with the Emotion Chao following him. Sonic, Blaze and Amy soon ran after Yume and the Chao as the monstrous Knuckles chased after them, running on all fours with his tendrils stretched out in front of him.

As they were running, Amy tripped and fell on her stomach; she screamed as she felt one of Knuckles' tentacles wrap around her ankle. Sonic saw this and tried to run back to save her, but he was stopped when Blaze grabbed him by the wrist, "Blaze what are you doing—"

"Sonic, she's just a projection. She's not the real Amy, I know it seems wrong but you can't save her. We need to run now", she said. Sonic looked back and saw the tears in Amy's eyes as she screamed while Knuckles dragged her into the bushes. He felt sick to his stomach as he heard her screams of agony and the sound of her limbs being torn apart. Blaze pulled him away as they continued to follow Yume and they until they came to a fork in the path.

"I think we lost him, let's hope we don't run into more of those creatures", said Yume. The sound of violent retching caught his and Blaze's attention, they turned and saw Sonic vomiting behind one of the trees. After a while, he finally stopped when his throat began to feel like it was burning up. "Sonic are you alright?", asked Blaze as she place a hand upon his shoulder. Sonic pushed her away before falling onto the ground and pulling his knees up to his chest, "No I'm not! I mean would you feel okay after watching the love of your life being dragged away and eaten alive?!", he shouted.

At that moment, Sonic had realized what he said and slapped his hand over his mouth while his cheeks flushed a bright pink. "The one you love? Sonic, are you...in love with—"

"No, no I'm not! I just got...caught up in the moment, okay?! I've just...never seen someone die before. It was...it was just terrible", he said even though he was still blushing.

Outside in the real world, no one noticed that Amy was blushing and tearing up. _Oh Sonic...I love you too_ , she thought as she smiled. She heard what Sonic had said and even if he tried to deny it, she knew he felt the same way about her as she felt for him.

Back in Tails' mind, Blaze gave Sonic a few minutes to regain his composure before he stood back up. "Okay I'm feeling a little better now", he said. He was then taken by surprise when Yume and the Emotion Choa engulfed him in a group hug, "We're sorry, Sonic. We're sorry you had to go through that, but Blaze was right: that wasn't the real Amy. Even if you did save her, she'd just get killed by something else; don't forget that the real Amy is back in the real world and she would want you to push forward and save Tails", said Yume.

Sonic sighed and patted the small fox on the head, "You're right, Yume. I'm sorry if I got sidetracked, I almost forgot why we're here in the first place. Let's focus: which of these paths do we take?", said Sonic as he gestured to the split paths. "If I remember correctly, the path towards the left will take us to the ladder. And we should go before more of those monsters come out", said Yume as the group then walked down the left path.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest, the sounds of teeth crunching down on flesh and bones. It was the twisted Knuckles still devouring the corpse of the Amy projection, which at this point was completely unrecognizable. The sound of a twig snapping caught it's attention and it turned around, growling like an angry dog but it quickly stopped when it saw Nightshade had stepped out of the bushes along with a zombified Vector and Cream.

Nightshade stepped towards the monster Knuckles and patted it on the head, causing it to start purring like a cat. "I sense that hedgehog and his little friends are lurking around this forest. I hope you two had put my plan into motion while I was preoccupied", he said as he looked at his two twisted minions. "Don't worry, Master, we made sure it's all set up and ready", said Cream in a deep syrupy voice. Nightshade smiled evilly, "Excellent. Soon they'll know what it's like to feel true pain, but for now, let's give them some motivation", he said as he snapped his fingers.

Back with Sonic and the crew, they stopped to catch their breath and see how much further they had to go before they reached the ladder that'll take them to the cloud castle. "I can see the later in the distance, it's not that much further away. I few more yards and we'll be there in no time", said Yume. Sonic had a confident smile on his face, "Alright! Don't worry, Tails, we're almost there. Soon we'll save you and kick that creep Nightshade out of here for good", he said.

Blaze tensed up as her ears flicked upward, "Wait...can you two be quiet for a second?", she asked. Sonic and Yume clamped up as she tilted her head towards the trees, even the Chao quieted their constant squeaking when Blaze insisted she have total silence. Her ears twitched again as she picked up a strange sound moving through the trees, it was the sound of wings flittering pass leaves.

The dark figure appeared and landed on a branch, when the light of the crescent moon above shined down on it, the figure was revealed to be zombified version of Rouge; her white fur was ashy grey and matted, her eyes were bloodshot and she had long claws. She too opened her mouth to reveal four long tendrils dripping in black saliva, but this time Sonic didn't seem too worried. "I'm ready for you now, I'm sure we can take you down. Good thing there's only one of you anyway", he said.

The twisted version of Rouge seemed to smiled devilishly as it let out an ear-piercing screech which forced the small group to cover their ears for fear they might go deaf. When it finally stopped screeching, they all looked up to see hundreds of red glowing eyes staring at them from the leaves, and they then revealed themselves to be even more monster forms of Rouge with slimy tendril filled mouths.

Sonic had a blank look on his face before he felt a hand slap him across the back of his head, "Anymore _brilliant_ observations you'd like to make, Sonic?!" _,_ said Blaze. Sonic didn't have a chance to respond because at that moment, the monster Rouge army began flying towards them in one big swarm towards the group. Osore began letting out several highpitched squeaks as he shook and sputtered in the air, "What did he say?", asked Sonic.

Yume's eyes grew wide with fear as the swarm grew closer, "He said RUN!", he screamed as they all broke into a sprint. They all heard the piercing screeching as the swarm flew closer and closer, that's when the ladder came into view. "There it is, we have to climb it fast before that swarm catches us!", shouted Yume. The group ran faster and faster until they came upon the endlessly tall ladder; they began to climb up the ladder as fast as they could while the zombie bats flew upward after them.

It looked as though they'd reach top, when the ladder suddenly began to twist and contort; Yume lost his grip and nearly fell to the ground if Sonic hadn't reached out and grabbed him by one of his two tails, "Don't worry I got you but...what's happening?", he said. Yume grabbed onto Sonic as he shook with fear, "I don't know what's going, this has never happened before", he said. The ladder continued to morph until it formed a cage around them, trapping them inside; the Rouge army grabbed the cage and lifted it up into the air, "Let us out here now!", shouted Blaze.

That was when they heard the sound of maniacal laughter, and suddenly Nightshade materialized in front of them smiling his demented smile. "Nightshade, you've finally decided to show your ugly mug to us", said Sonic. Nightshade laughed, "Kind of ironic for you to say I'm ugly when I look exactly like you, Sonic. It doesn't matter anyway, I'm going to see to it that you are out of my way permanently. And then I shall destroy what's left of Tails' mind, become strong and have my revenge. Nightmare Bats, put them to sleep", he said.

The group watched in horror as the monster Rouge army's mouths began to swell up and balloon in size, they then opened their mouths and released a torrent of thick, purplish-black gas. The group began coughing due to the revolting smell of the gas, that's when Sonic and Blaze saw Yume and the Emotion Chao one by one drop unconscious onto the floor of the cage. Realizing they had already breathed in some of the gas, Sonic and Blaze tried to fight back against its effects.

"It's...sleeping gas! Sonic...hold...your breath...", Blaze trailed off as she passed out. Sonic shook his head as he tried to fight off the feeling of sleepiness that was trying to take a hold of his mind, he looked up at Nightshade through half-liddened eyes. "Night...shade, you...big...dumb...jerk...", Sonic trailed off as the tight grip of sleep yanked him into the darkness. Nightshade laughed as he snapped his fingers again, "Take them to the castle but don't harm them or let my pets harm them. They're very valuable, especially the small white fox; I need to know where they hid the final component of Tails' mind core, once that's destroyed, I'll have total controlled over this", he said as the army of zombie bats did as they were commanded by flying the cage up towards the castle in the sky.

Author's Note: Well that's it for Chapter 8, and now things have gotten real. Nightshade has captured our heroes and has some evil plans in store for them; what does he plan to do with Sonic, Blaze, Yume and the Emotion Chao? Find out next time in Chapter 9; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	9. Chapter 9

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 9: The Final Battle

(Warning: This chapter contains a short yet uncomfortable rape scene. Read at your own risk)

Sonic let out a small groan as he slowly opened his eyes, he looked around and saw that he and the others were still locked inside a cage but now they were in the main foyer of the cloud castle. Speaking of which, the cloud castle no longer resembled a castle made out of clouds but rather it looked like the type of castle Dracula would call home, with its black walls lined with torches, dark purple curtains and a blood red throne sitting at the top of a short flight of steps.

A loud hiss caught Sonic's attention and he looked around to see that the room was filled with zombiefied versions of his friends, they all stood around the cage hissing and growling hungrily at him and the others. Then Sonic heard a groan behind him and saw that Blaze also waking up, Yume and the Emotion Chao had already woken up long before them.

Suddenly the sound of cackling erupted through the room, the group turned to see the monsters step aside to let Nightshade walk towards the cage, "Well well well, look who finally woke up. I swear, you don't know how long I've been waiting for you to wake back up. My patience can only last so long and there's also only so long before watching the normal projections of your friends getting rip to shreds by my minions becomes boring", he said.

Nightshade then stepped directly in front of the cage, "Now let's cut to the chase: where's Tails? His mind, while crumbling, is still stable and if I want full control I have to steal away his innocence. So tell me where he is", he demanded. Sonic and Blaze both knew where Tails was: he was hidden away in a projection of Cosmo's flower to keep him safe and said flower was hidden away in Yume's fur, but of course they weren't going to tell Nightshade that lest they give him what he wanted.

"How about no! We're not telling you where Tails is so you can get the last bit of power you need, so why don't you just back off!", said Sonic. Nightshade laughed out loud, "I should've known you'd be too stubborn to give me what I want, it's that heroic sense of loyalty you have that keeps you from selling your friend out. It's stupid really", he said. That's when Blaze got a word in, "Of course you'd say that protecting your friends is stupid, I wouldn't expect a parasite to know what it's like to care about someone", she said.

That's when Nightshade's face suddenly morphed into an expression of pure anger, he ran up and grabbed her by the throat. "How dare you! You know nothing about me or how I feel, but I wouldn't expect you to because you weren't there when my kind were systematically slaughtered. Don't get me wrong: I don't really care about the other memebers of my species who were killed; honestly, if they knew how to really gain power from their hosts, they wouldn't have gotten themselves killed so easily", said Nightshade.

Blaze struggled to escape his grip before falling onto the floor of the cage, "If you don't care, then why do you want revenge?", she asked. Nightshade then held an expression that was a mixture of anger and grief, "I want revenge because your grandmother took my lover away from me. I'm sure you know about Moonlight, the one Somno Canibus that didn't try to consume nightmare energy and let herself become corrupted. Even though she didn't seek power, I still loved her until your grandmother took her away from me, so I escaped and hid myself away in order to get my vengeance.

"But I foolishly waited too long: your grandmother was already dead and you were ruling the Sol Dimension alongside your mother. I could've gotten direct revenge on you by inhabiting your body but you were far too strong to be corrupted; I was then gonna take over your boyfriend, the white hedgehog, but when I was going to infect him, I miscalculated and ended up in this body instead. At first, I was extremely pissed because this fox barely has any memories of you or even a deep connection, but he does seem to have power.

"All I had to do was comb through his memories to find who he loves most and every single one pointed to Sonic, I mean this fox really is gay for you. I mean seriously, he should just stop beating around the bush and come out of the closet already", said Nightshade. That last comment had angered Sonic as he rushed towards the front of the cage, "Listen here, you sick freak, Tails and I are not lovers! He loves me as if I was his big brother and I've always thought of him as my little brother, I don't think of him in "that way" like you do and it'd be super gross and disgusting if I did. He's just a kid and he doesn't deserve the torment you're putting him through!", he shouted.

(Warning: This is where the rape scene starts, if you can't handle reading this, I suggest skipping to the end of this scene).

Nightshade suddenly gave Sonic a seductive smile, "Is that right? Well then, maybe I should show you how fun it really is", he said. He then snapped his fingers and Sonic suddenly found himself strapped down to a table outside of the cage, "Huh? What's going on? What are you doing?", he asked as he struggled to escape. Nightshade leapt on top of him, "I'm giving you a small taste of what's in stored for Tails, unless of course...you want to tell me where he is and spare yourself the pain", he said.

Sonic glared at him, "Go jump in lake and drown, you rejected Deviantart OC!", he said. Nightshade smirked evilly as he leaned down and planted his lips on Sonic's lips, causing the young hedgehog to shake back and forth and kick out. The sight made Blaze feel sick to her stomach as well as everyone back in the real world; Vanilla covered Cream's eyes just before it happened and it actually made Knuckles rush over to a trashcan and throw up.

Nightshade finally moved away from Sonic's mouth and began licking his neck, Sonic shuddered at the feeling of the ice cold tongue running across his skin and fur; the feeling made his skin crawl, "When are you gonna stop?!", he shouted. Nightshade pulled away, "I'll stop when you tell me where Tails is", he said. When Sonic shook his head in defience, Nightshade responded by reaching downward, grabbing Sonic's member and proceeding to slowly stroke it; Sonic's cheeks flushed bright red and he couldn't stop himself from moaning in pleasure, despite the fact that the feeling of the demon's touch made him shudder and wince.

The reactions Sonic was having caused Nightshade to start laughing, "My my, is the Blue Blur enjoying this? Well maybe you'll like this even more", he said as he took one of his fingers, coated it in his saliva and then inserted it into Sonic's anus. Sonic then screamed out loud in pain as the intrusion was agonizing, but it didn't stop there. Nightshade then inserted a second finger, which made Sonic recoil in pain again. "You know, this could be easily avoided if you just tell me where Tails is. You're really just putting yourself through this torture for no reason, other than the fact that it's turning me on", said Nightshade.

Despite the immense pain, Sonic still glared at his demonic counterpart. "I don't care if this is the worst pain I've ever endured, I'd rather die than let you kill my best buddy", he said. Nightshade smirked devilishly, "Well then, if that's how you really feel, then how about I grant you your wish", he said. With that, he removed his fingers from Sonic's anus and replaced them with his unreasonably large member; Sonic let out a bloodcurdling scream as he felt his insides being ravaged by the sadistic demon.

Outside in the real world, everyone had either lost their lunch or shut their eyes in horror at what was transpiring on scream, though Cream's mother was now covering her daughter's ears as well as her eyes. The only one not physically sickened by the display was Amy, but that was only because she was secretly seething with rage and gripping the handle of her hammer so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, though you wouldn't guess so seeing as she was wearing gloves.

Back in Tails' mind, Nightshade continued to violate Sonic with his member, rapidly thrusting in and out of the blue hedgehog's sensitive anus, which was now bleeding profusely. Sonic himself kept screaming in pain and agony as he felt as though his tail hole was being violently ripped open. Blaze, who had tears in her eyes, couldn't take anymore of this disgustingly evil act. "Please stop! Leave Sonic alone, I'm the one you want! Your grudge is against my family, take me instead but for Chaos' sake stop hurting him!", she shouted.

Nightshade looked up at Blaze with an evil smirk, "Should I? I mean he did ask for it, but I guess I can stop...by doing this!", he said as he lifted his claws and brought them down right into Sonic's heart. Sonic let out a quick scream before he collapsed dead onto the table; Blaze gasped as she looked away, unable to accept that her friend just died right in front of her.

(This is where that uncomfortable scene ends, come here if you can't handle it).

Everyone outside also couldn't believe what had just happened, but they were also doubly unprepared for came next. Just as Nightshade was about get off the table, a pair of white and red shoes collided with his face, sending him flying across the room. He got up to see Sonic, alive and unharmed, standing in front of him in his Super Form. "What the Hell?! How are you alive? I just killed you!", he shouted.

Sonic smirked, "While you were busy preparing to interrogate us, Yume and the Chao woke up first and then woke me up. Yume then came up with a plan to trick you: he made a projection of me to use as a decoy and then shrunk me so I could escape from the cage and get the drop on you", he said as the decoy vanished from existence.

Sonic then punched the cage, shattering it and freeing his friends; Blaze walked up to Sonic and slapped him in the face, "You know, it would've been nice to let me in on this little plan of yours! You had me thinking you were raped and then killed!", she yelled. Sonic blushed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry Blaze, it was kind of a last minute thing", he said.

Their moment was interrupted by Nightshade screaming in anger, "I've had enough of this! Tails or no Tails, I'm gonna get rid of you once and for all! Minions, destroy Blaze, Yume and those useless Chao! The hedgehog is mine!", he shouted as he too adapted Sonic's Super Form and rushed at Sonic.

The monsters surrounded Blaze and Yume, their mouths tendrils fully extended and dripping in black slime. Blaze's hands immediately burst into flames as she began firing fireballs left and right, destroying each monster that came her way; Yume used his Dream based reality bending powers to either freeze them, burn them, or eat themselves.

Meanwhile, Sonic was locked in hand-to-hand combat with Nightshade, theirs heads butting against each other. "It's useless, Sonic! I've combed through all of Tails' memories about you and have crafted this outer form around them, and as such I know all of your moves and attacks. So fighting me is pointless, I know everything you're gonna do!", said Nightshade.

Sonic grunted, "Well...you might know everything I'm going to do but that's not going to help you since I know everything you're going to do, strange isn't it?", he said as they finally broke apart and began flying at each other.

Each time they collided, their fists and/or feet were rammed into either their faces or abdomens; on the fifth time they collided, Nightshade punched Sonic in the face while Sonic kicked him in his groin. They fell onto the ground as they tried to recover from the blows, "It would seem that we're evenly matched", said Nightshade. Sonic panted, "Yeah, is agree...if it wasn't for this", he said.

As Nightshade looked on in confusion, Sonic closed his eyes and breathed deeply; a dark purple stream of light began to swirl around him as he started grunting. His muscles began expanding, his gloves were ripped off, his shoes became spikey and his teeth turned sharp. When the purple light finally dissipated, Sonic stood before Nightshade in a new form: his fur was dark blue and shaggy, he had sharp fangs and claws and he had grown a few inches taller.

"What the Hell?! You transformed into a werehog again?!", shouted Nightshade. Sonic responded by stretching his arm out, grabbing him and flinging him across the room, "That's right, and I know that in this form you can't stand up to me", said Sonic.

Nightshade mentally slapped himself as he realized that Tails didn't have any memories of Sonic fighting in his werehog form, and thus he couldn't fight against him; Sonic stretches out his arms again, trying to grab Nightshade as he tried to dodge him. Sonic was finally able to grab the little parasite as he held him with both of his large hands, "Now I know what you're thinking: should I crush him? And the answer may surprise you—"

Nightshade was cut off when Sonic began squeezing him with his large hands, causing Nightshade to scream out in pain as he felt his bones bending. Blaze noticed this out of the corner of her eyes, "Keep crushing him, Sonic! If he dies, he'll be forced out of Tails' mind!", she shouted. Sonic nodded to her as he continued to put pressure on Nightshade's small body.

 _Dammit I need to find some way to get him to de-power himself_ , he thought.

Blaze tackled a zombified Amy to the ground while Yume fired a beam of light at a zombified Charmy, not noticing a zombified Espio running up behind him and grabbing onto his shoulders; Yume shook around, trying to shake off the monsterous chameleon when a large bubble fell out of his chest fur. Everyone gasped as they saw what was inside the bubble: a beautiful pink flower.

Nightshade smirked as he leaned back and smacked his head into Sonic's face; Sonic was distracted by the pain long enough for Nightshade to escape his grip and spin-dash towards the bubble. He grabbed it and popped it open, then he turned the flower upside-down and shook it until something small and yellow fall out of it; the small yellow object began growing until it was at full size, "No! Tails!", shouted Sonic.

Tails, himself, laid on the ground with this sad and empty look in his eyes as a result of his energy being drained but he wasn't dead yet because Nightshade hadn't stolen his innocence. Tails barely acknowledged anything around him as Nightshade picked him up by the throat, licking his lips. "No! You leave him alone!", yelled Sonic as he ran on all fours towards them.

He punched Nightshade in the face, sending him flying head-first into a wall, he then picked up Tails. "Tails? Buddy, it's me Sonic! Don't you worry, I'm gonna get you out of this mess—"

Sonic was cut off when Nightshade grabbed him by the throat, causing him to drop Tails and fall backwards on the ground; Nightshade pinned Sonic down as he squeezed his throat tightly, slowly crushing his windpipe. "I have had enough of you, Sonic! I'm gonna destroy you once and for all, then I'm gonna take my time slowly ravaging your little fox friend until there's nothing left and I can finally escape this place", he sneered.

Sonic kicked out as he tried to throw Nightshade off of him, but his grip was too strong; Sonic looked off to the side and saw Tails lying there on the floor almost lifeless, "Tails...I'm sorry, buddy...I tried...to stop...him...", he croaked out. Tails continued to look back at him with those empty eyes; Nightshade saw this and laughed, "Awww, how touching! I'd say "don't be sad cause you'll meet each other again in the afterlife", but seeing as Tails' soul will disintegrate after I finally break it, I'd be lying if I said that", said Nightshade.

As Tails laid there and watched his friend being slowly choked to death, an image came to his mind: he saw himself being held back by a squirrel as a bear and raccoon smashed a device he was working on, the scene the changed to him walking away holding the broken device with tears in his eyes. Suddenly he saw something zoom in front of him: it was a blue hedgehog that ran up to where he stood, stopped and then ran in the opposite direction. Tails was awestruck and began following him until him came to a red airplane on a beach, he stopped to admire its craftsmanship and then began painting it blue.

"What do you think you're doing?", said a voice.

Tails turned and saw the blue hedgehog standing behind him; nervously, Tails turned towards him. "Sorry when I see a machine, I can't help myself. I hope you don't mind that I changed the engine to make it go faster", he said. The hedgehog smiled, "I like what you did with the color too", he said. Tails smiled and laughed, he then explained how he loved inventing but was constantly bullied by other Mobians for his love of technology, and that he followed the hedgehog because he though he was cool and wanted to be friends.

"Well what's your name, pal?", asked the hedgehog. "Miles Prower, But my friends call me "Tails"", said Tails. "My name's Sonic. Nice job, Tails, I could use a mechanic and a friend", said the hedgehog named Sonic. Tails was taken by surprise, "You really mean that?", he asked. Sonic turned to him and gave him a thumbs-up, "You bet, little buddy", he said which made Tails smile.

That's when the light came back to Tails' eyes and his heart started racing; what he saw was the memory of when he and Sonic first met, and how happy he had been when they became friends. And now that his best friend was being strangled right in front of him, something snap inside of him. Nightshade smirked as he saw Sonic struggling to keep his eyes open, "Ha ha, sayonara Sonic the Hedgehog!", he said as he raised his claws up.

But before he could finish the job, he heard a scream and was kicked face-first into the ceiling. "Again?! Why do I keep getting thrown into stuff?!", he said as he dislodged his head from the ceiling. He looked down and saw that Tails had transformed into his Super Form, he glowed a bright golden yellow as Flickies that were also golden yellow with green stripes around their red eyes flew around him. Tails also had a look of pure rage on his face, "You've tortured me in my dreams, sexually assaulted me three times, and tried to kill Sonic twice! _**YOU HAVE MESSED WITH THE WRONG FOX!**_ ", Tails screamed as he flew towards Nightshade, his fist colliding with his jaw.

(I recommend listening to Tails' theme song while reading this next part).

Nightshade staggered back as his mouth filled up with blood from having his jaw broken, he snapped it back in place and growled at Tails. He flew towards him and threw a punch but Tails dodger it and grabbed his fist before spinning him around and throwing him across the room; Nightshade stopped himself from hitting the wall and recovered fast enough to dodge Tails' oncoming kicks.

The two then began throwing punches and kicks at each other, with Nightshade's missing and Tails' always connecting with his target; Tails even got a little enjoyment out of the fight as he kicked Nightshade in his groin, causing the little demon to scream in agony and clutch his private area.

This left him wide open for Tails to spinkick him to the ground, he then landed on the ground in front of Nightshade as he laid on the floor panting heavily. "Even with that Sonic costume you're wearing, you're no stronger than a Badnik. I suggest quitting now and save yourself the embarrassment while you still have some dignity left", said Tails.

This line made Nightshade angry, "Me? Quit? After I've waited fifty years to get my revenge? _**YOU'RE OUTTA YOUR MIND!**_ ", he yelled as he rushed towards Tails. Tails dodged again and kicked Nightshade into the floor, he then commanded the Flickies flying around him to attack as well.

Nightshade barely had time to react as he felt four small bodies rammed into his face, their beaks piercing his face and their claws scratching him repeatedly. Nightshade grabbed one and smashed its skull in but it came back to life and continued to attack him; while he was distracted, Tails flew over toward Sonic.

Sonic laid on the floor still in his werehog form, panting heavily as he looked up at Tails, "Hey...buddy...how's it going", he wheezed. Tails smiled as he helped him stand up and then gave him a hug, "I've missed you Sonic, I felt so lost and empty without you here with me", he said as he nuzzled his face into his thick fur. Sonic smiled and wrapped his long arms around his small body.

Blaze panted as she tossed one more fireball at last of Nightshade's minions, knocking it down like the rest of them. Blaze collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, but Yume walked up to her and placed his glowing hands on her shoulders. He slowly healed her and restored her energy, "Thank you, Yume", she said. Yume smiled as he helped her stand up before they went to join Sonic and Tails; they looked as the Flickies finally stopped attacking Nightshade and flew back towards Tails.

Nightshade stood up slowly, his body was riddled with claw marks and puncture wounds, and one his eyes had been pecked out. But despite his injuries and dwindling energy, he still laughed evilly, "You...you...you think that's gonna stop me? You forgot the power I have in this world. Minions, destroy all of them!", he commanded as all the monsters Blaze and Yume took down woke up and surround them.

They snarled and growled as they stuck out their slimy mouth tendrils and tried to grab them; Tails stepped towards the monsters with no fear in his eyes, in fact his lack of fear sent chills through the monsters' spines. Then he looked towards Nightshade, "This is my mind, Nightshade, not yours. I was too scared to fight back but you don't scare me anymore, and the power you think you have is gone now", he said.

Nightshade sneered, "What do you know about that? I'm the Somno Canibus, I'm the one with the reality bending powers! And you, you have nothing! Absolutely nothing!", he said.

Tails smirked as he snapped his fingers, the monsters then turned their attention towards him. "Nightshade may have made you, but you're projections of _my_ friends and that means I control you. And I say, it's time for some lunch", he said. Tails snapped his fingers again and pointed to Nightshade, who backed away slowly; the monsters stalked towards him, their tendrils stretched out and glistening.

"No no no no, I made you! I command you! You obey me!", he shouted in desperation. His pleading didn't help as the monsters finally closed in on him and began to devour him slowly, his screams rang out as their teeth sank into his flesh and ripped him to pieces.

Suddenly, a beam of light flew out from the swarm of monsters and up into the sky. Back in the real world, Tails' limp body jumped up as the beam of light shot out of his body and hit the wall in Eggman's lab; the others watched as the light morphed into a small creature with white fur, fluffy dark purple antennae, red eyes and leathery bat wings.

It was Nightshade who had finally been forced out of Tails' mind when he was eaten by the monstrous projections, the others looked at him in anger and prepared to rush him. Nightshade stood up and scowled at them, "You think you can stop me, I'll destroy all of you!", he screamed as his claws grew longer and he stalked towards them. But before he could attack them, his skin began to smoke and sizzle, he gasped in pain as he looked down and saw that the fur and skin on his paws was disintegrating leaving behind bone.

Nightshade struggled to breathe as his body slowly crumbled to nothing, "No, this...wasn't...supposed...to happen...!", he screamed as his body finally evaporated into dust, leaving behind his skeleton. Everyone looked down at the pile of bones in confusion, but then the sound of gasping caught their attention.

They turned around and saw Blaze and Sonic were waking up, breathing heavily and trying to regain their senses; Amy was the first one to rush towards Sonic, hugging him tightly. "Oh Sonic, I'm so glad to see you're okay", she said. She then leaned in close to his ear, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your little secret", she whispered. Sonic blushed in embarrassment after hearing her whisper that.

He then winced in pain and grabbed his stomach, everyone looked to see that the bandages wrapped around his waist were now stained with blood. Sonic smiled sheepishly, "Well I guess I reopened my wounds and need to go back to the hospital again", he said.

A coughing sound came from next to him and he turned to see Tails opening his bloodshot eyes, he looked up at Sonic and gave him a crooked smile. "Hi...S...Sonic...did...did we...win...?", he asked in a scratchy voice. Sonic gave him a sad smile, "Yeah, little buddy, we won. But now it looks like we both have to go to the hospital now, I am not looking forward to that radioactive goop they call food", he said. Tails smiled as he closed his eyes and finally fell into a peaceful slumber.

Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 9, and now Nightshade is finally gone. How will are heroes recover from this insane misadventure? Will things ever be the same? And how is Tails feeling after all this? Find out in Chapter 10, the final chapter of this story; until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!


	10. Chapter 10

See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer

Chapter 10: Aftermath Epilogue

Tails let out a small groan as he finally opened his eyes, he wasn't too surprise to find that he had woken up inside a hospital room; Nightshade's influence had taken a toll on him both physically and mentally, so it make sense why he'd be in the hospital. Tails took a moment to look at himself: he was, of course, wearing a green hospital gown and had an IV drip inserted into his left arm; there were electrodes on his chest and he had a breathing tube inside his nose.

Just then, the door slowly opened and Blaze entered the room carrying a bouquet of pink roses. Tails was about say hello when Blaze gestured for him to speak quietly before pointing to the right side of the room; Tails looked to the right and saw that Sonic was asleep in the bed next to his, the blanket pulled up to his chin as he snored softly. "They had to operate on him again and reseal his wounds, the doctor said not to disturb him while I came to visit you because he needs to rest", whispered Blaze.

Tails smiled as he watched her move towards the bedside table and placed the flowers inside a vase, "How do you feel?", she asked quietly. "A little woozy but aside from that I'm alright", whispered Tails. Blaze smiled as she placed her hand on his head and gently rubbed it, "That's to be expected. When we brought you and Sonic back to the hospital, not only did we have to explain why he left and why his wounds had reopened, but I had to explain why you almost looked like a corpse.

"I told the doctors all about what had happened to you and they immediately got to work: they put you under a heavy amount of sedatives because of your sleep deprivation and because you're so malnourished, they've been alternating between giving you Saline and Glucose solutions", she whispered.

Tails was shocked to hear he was actually in that bad of shape, he had known what Nightshade was doing to him but he didn't think it was that bad. "Speaking of which...what happened to Nightshade?", he asked softly. "He was forced out of your body when those monstrous projections devoured him and once he was out, he began to disintegrate until he was nothing but a pile of bones. I burned those bones until they were nothing but ash and then I burned the ashes until there was nothing left of them, I wanted to be certain that no trace of that parasite was left at all.

"From the monitor of Eggman's machine, we saw Yume restore your mind back to what it used to be but that's not the end of it. News of what you had done to Sonic finally reached the authorities and I explained everything to them as well as pleaded with them not to arrest you, they agreed that you would not face jail time but said that you have to now see a psychiatrist every week before you can be deemed of sound mind again.

"That's the second reason I came to see you today: they wanted me to inform you that, despite you and Sonic staying at the same hospital, they said that when you're discharged, you are not to come within fifteen feet of him until the psychiatrist is absolutely sure you won't snap and try to hurt him again because if it happens a second time, you will be sent to jail", said Blaze quietly.

Tails was both shocked and saddened by the news but he knew that someone other than his friends would've eventually found out that he attacked Sonic, so he also kind of expected this. That didn't stop the tears from falling but Blaze gently pulled him into a hug and comforted him while he cried. "It's okay, Tails, don't cry. They also mentioned someone had to look after you to make sure you've recovered and are visiting the psychiatrist as they instructed, so I'm going to stay by your side until you've made a full recovery, physically and mentally", she whispered.

Even though he was still upset, Tails was a little happy knowing he wouldn't have to go through this alone again, he'd have someone by his side helping him through it. And that's exactly what happened: over the following two months, Blaze had visited Tails at the hospital regularly, helping him whenever he needed and sometimes just giving him company.

Sonic was there in the hospital with him but because of the restraining order the courts had forced upon Tails, he chose to keep his distance and even went so far as to not speak to the fox lest he accidentally cause him to get sent to prison. Tails wasn't taking being avoided by Sonic that well either; after being tortured by a nightmarish version of his friend for weeks, now that he was finally free, the last thing he wanted was to be kept apart from Sonic.

In fact, the forced separation was only causing more damage to Tails' psyche; he wanted to be near his best friend once more, but there was nothing to be done about it. Blaze has tried once again to appeal to courts and persuade them to be a bit more lenient on Tails, seeing as what he did was due to the evil influence of a parasitic creature that was indeed sentient, but they refused to budge.

They needed to be 100% certain that Tails' mental health was back to its normal state and that he wouldn't attack anyone of his own free will in the near future, and the only way to be sure of that was to have him see a therapist and have him/her confirm that it's safe to let Tails be around Sonic again.

Until then, Blaze took care of the young fox and made sure he had everything he needed; she couldn't always be by his side as she was often busy with other matters, but she still made time to take care of and comfort Tails whenever she needed to.

Three months had passed and Tails had finally been discharged from the hospital, but he went straight home immediately afterwards because he felt that if he couldn't be around Sonic, he shouldn't be around his other friends as well. Blaze accompanied him and even offered to stay at his house until his psychiatric evaluations were complete and he was deemed mentally healthy again.

During this time, Tails fell into depression, not so much that he would attempt suicide, but he was in a constant state of sadness for quite awhile. He wanted to see Sonic again, especially after said hedgehog completely avoided any and all contact with him at the hospital and even refused to see him after he was discharged. Now, Tails wasn't stupid, he knew the only reason Sonic was purposely avoiding him was because he was scared that if he came anywhere near Tails, it'd violate the restraining order and the young fox would be incarcerated.

Blaze had told Tails, in Sonic's own words, that he had lost his best friend once and he doesn't plan on losing him again; Sonic himself was even saddened by the whole situation too, he was just better at hiding his emotions than Tails was. He knew this wasn't fair to both him and Tails, especially after surviving the Hell that Nightshade had put them through, but again nothing could be done about it and they just had to accept it.

It was a partly cloudy Wednesday morning when Blaze walked with Tails to a small clinic in town; after walking in and waiting for about ten minutes, they were directed to go to the office down the hall and to the left. Blaze knocked on the door and they were both greeted by Dr. Willowbrook, a female badger with mahogany fur and black stripes wearing a dark blue woman's suit and round-rimmed glasses.

She smiled when she saw the two, "You must be Miles Prower, it's so good to meet you. I'm Dr. Willowbrook, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me Rose. Now then, why don't you come in and have a seat on the sofa", she said gesturing to the lounge sofa in the corner of her office. "Tails, I'm going to sit in the waiting room and wait until your session is over, then I'll take you back home", said Blaze as she walked away leaving the young fox alone.

Tails nervously walked into the room and saw that it was pretty homey for a professional therapist office: there was a desk off to one corner, in another corner was a fish tank filled with exotic saltwater fish, on the walls were three diplomas and several photos of Dr. Willowbrook with her friends and family members, and in the middle of the room, between the lounge and a large armchair, was a small coffee table with a small stack of magazines on one side and a bowl of various candy on the other.

Tails laid down on the sofa as Dr. Willowbrook sat in the armchair, setting a small stack of papers down on the side table and picking up a clipboard and pen. "Now then Miles, or as your friends call you Tails, the first thing I want you to know is that you have nothing to be afraid of. All those terrible stereotypes you hear about therapy is simply not true: I'm not here to make you think you're crazy, I'm here to help you with your troubles.

"My main concern is to see to it that you're mentally healthy, and I'd like for you see me as a friend rather than the enemy. So, I'm aware of what has brought you here, but first I'd like to hear more about you, why don't you start from the beginning", she said. Tails sighed and began to tell Dr. Willowbrook about his life, he told her about his love of technology, how he loved to build and repair machines.

Tails had always been very intelligent even at such a young age, but not everyone he came across shared his ideals; he told her about how he was often bullied by other Mobians, first about being born with two tails and then because of his love for technology. Then Tails told her about his most cherished memory: the day he met Sonic the Hedgehog; Tails went on about how cool Sonic was, how fast he was and how he had wanted to be his friend. He told the doctor about how Sonic befriended him and the two went on many adventures together, stopping Dr. Eggman's evil schemes and having fun.

Tails told her about all the other friends he made while on his adventures, but Dr. Willowbrook told him to stop for a minute. "You said you've made many other friends, but I haven't heard you talk about any of them with the same kind of youthful adoration as when you spoke of Sonic. Now, I know who Sonic is, no one can forget that heroic hedgehog who saved this world and even this universe so many times, but who is he to you?", she said.

When he heard the question, Tails smiled sadly. "He's my best friend...more than that, he's my big brother. I never had any siblings growing up and it was hard for me to make friends because I was so shy and lacked self-confidence, but when I met Sonic everything changed. He wasn't afraid of anything, well except water cause he can't swim, and he always faced his problems head-on. Sonic was never afraid of failing and even if he didn't succeed at first, he'd always get back up and keep on fighting.

"He was everything I've ever wanted in a friend, but I hadn't noticed that the more I hung out with him, the more my confidence began to rise. I became braver and soon I was able to help others even without Sonic's help, we went on so many adventures together and he always stood by my side. Sonic was there to help me and he never expected anything in return, all he ever asked for was that we'd always be the best of friends and not let anything get in the way of our friendship.

"But...but I...I broke that promise when I let a parasite trick me into thinking Sonic turned into a monster and I attacked him with a knife!", Tails said as he started crying. It may have happened three and a half months ago but the memory of him stabbing Sonic almost to death was still fresh in his mind and it still hurt to talk about it. Tails cried into his hands before he felt something tapping against his foot, he looked up to see that Dr. Willowbrook held a box of tissues up for him to take one; he pulled out a few and dried his face while also blowing his nose.

"Your friend Blaze told me about the incident but I want to hear your side of the story, starting with how you felt before and after you attacked Sonic. Now it's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I can understand that it might be too painful for you", said Dr. Willowbrook. Tails knew it was too painful but it'd be even more painful if he didn't say anything; he told her about the picnic Sonic had set up for him and Tails as a way of cheering him up because his other friends noticed his declining mood and thought he was just depressed, they didn't know what was actually going on until it was too late.

Tails had told her about how scared he was at the idea of being alone with Sonic, how he tried to reason with himself that what happened in his dreams can't happen in real life, how relieved he was when he saw the real Sonic being as helpful as always. But it all went downhill when Sonic asked Tails if he wanted to play hide and seek, just like Nightshade would say to Tails in the dreams; Tails told Dr. Willowbrook that at that moment he was both scared and angry, he thought that the evil Sonic somehow entered the real world and was going to finish him of.

That was when Tails grabbed the cheese knife and stabbed Sonic over ten times and that it wasn't until he came down from his adrenaline high that he had seen what he did. Tails said he only vaguely remembered being found covered in blood by Vector, Espio and Charmy before running away and hiding in the forest when the ambulance showed up.

Dr. Willowbrook wrote everything he said down before looking up at the flower-shaped clock on her wall, "Oh I'm sorry honey, it looks like our thirty minutes are up. But our session was very informative, so I'll see you next Wednesday. Oh and here", she said as she wrote something down on a piece of paper and gave it to Tails. "What's this?", asked Tails. "It's a prescription for Prozac, sweetie. I was told you began suffering from mild depression so I'm prescribing you an antidepressant to help with that, also I know you're not allowed to see or be near Sonic until I give you a full evaluation to make sure you're psyche is normal, but I think it would help you a bit more if the two of you spoke over the phone", said Dr. Willowbrook.

Tails thanked her and left the office, joining back up with Blaze as the left the building; seeing that Tails was so emotionally drained, Blaze took him back home and offered to go to the pharmacy to get his prescription of Prozac. When she got back to the house, she made him some lunch and then he took one of the pills before lying down to take a nap. Lately, Tails' sleep had been dreamless and he didn't know whether to see that as a good thing or a bad thing.

Blaze did explain that dreamless sleep was a side effect of surviving being the host of a Somno Canibus and Tails was actually okay with it because his dreams were now the only place where he could see Sonic and he didn't want to think of him right now or else he'd just make himself feel worse.

While he slept, Blaze walked over to the phone and dialed a number, it rang for a few minutes before the other line was picked up. "Hello?", said what sounded like Shadow's voice on the other end. "Yes it's me Blaze, I just came back from taking Tails to therapy", she said. "Well what happened? How'd it go?", asked Shadow. "Well considering his eyes were puffy and red when he came out, I'm guessing Tails did a lot of crying. The therapist also prescribed him an antidepressant, I'm just hoping he's better and off that restraining order by the time the big day comes up", she said.

She heard Shadow sigh on the other line, "I hope so too. Speaking of which, Sonic wanted me...okay he wanted any of us to ask you how Tails was doing since he can't go near him or Tails will get sent to prison", he said. "Well, tell Sonic that the therapist said it's okay for him and Tails to speak via phone call, that way he can ask him directly and Tails might be able to get over his depression", said Blaze. Shadow agreed before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.

The next morning, Tails sat at the dining room table with a blank look on his face while Blaze stood by the stove cooking breakfast for the two of them. Just then, the phone began ringing and just as Blaze was going to answer it, Tails got up and answered it himself. "Hello?", he said solemnly. "Hey little buddy, why do you sound so sad?", said a familiar voice. Tails was taken by surprise and almost dropped the phone in shock, "S...Sonic? Is that you?", he asked. He then heard playful laughter on the other end, "Yup, it's me. Thought I'd forgotten about you, huh? I was told we can talk on the phone so I wanted to wait until the morning to give you a call and see how you're doing. So how are you doing?", said Sonic.

At that moment, Tails was filled with an unbelievable amount of joy, "I'm...I'm okay, I've been a little sad lately cause we're not able to see each other, but I couldn't be happier to hear your voice again after three and a half months", said Tails. "Yeah, I'm sorry buddy, if only I realized that we can just talk over the phone sooner. I wouldn't have made it look like I was flat-out ignoring you, even though I only did it to keep you out of the slammer. Oops, I gotta go now, I...I...I have a date with...Amy I need to get to", said Sonic. Tails laughed at that last statement, "Well you and her have fun, I'll talk to you again later, bye", he said as he hung up the phone.

Tails sat back at the table to see Blaze setting down a plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs for him, "I see that smile, I'm guessing that was Sonic you spoke to on the phone", she said. Tails nodded as he began eating his breakfast, his spirits having been raised just a small bit that morning.

Over the next few weeks, Tails continued to visit Dr. Willowbrook and discuss with her how he had felt during the whole ordeal with Nightshade, but she soon noticed that Tails seemed more happy and less nervous than the first few times she's seen him. It was during their seventh session that she decided to ask him about it, "I've noticed you seem a little more happy lately, care to tell me why", she said. Tails smiled as he explained that he and Sonic had been talking to each other over the phone practically everyday since he started his therapy sessions, he said how it made him feel better to hear Sonic's voice even if he couldn't see him.

Tails also explained how this development has improved his mood recently: he was much closer to how he was before the Nightshade incident, happy and carefree. He said he'd been getting better sleep than he was a few weeks ago and that he'd been having fun hanging out with Blaze as she took care of him and had been taking him to some of his favorite places.

Dr. Willowbrook wrote down what he was saying and smiled, "Well it looks like your mood has improved greatly, I supposed you don't need to be on those antidepressants anymore", she said. And as such, Tails had been taken off of his antidepressants seeing as he no longer needed them to relieve him of his sorrows.

Now, that's not to say Tails was absolutely free of sadness as he still wished he could actually see Sonic; being able to talk to him over the phone was nice and Sonic was never too busy or not in the mood to talk to his best friend, but there was only so long Tails could hear his voice before he wanted to hang up because the pain of not seeing him was too much.

Tails continued his weekly trips to see Dr. Willowbrook to the point where he no longer needed Blaze to take him, he was trusted to go by himself and also a part of him despaired that he'd ever see Sonic again and so he didn't entertain the idea of trying to sneek away to see him. Tails also began to notice how strange the others were acting on the week of his twelfth session; he was allowed to see and be around them, but for some reason, they were avoiding him or making up excuses for why they couldn't hang out with him after his session was over.

At that moment, Tails just accepted it and came to the conclusion that even though this whole thing was Nightshade's fault, he still have to bare the consequences of his actions. Tails walked into Dr. Willowbrook's office and sat on the lounge, "Well Tails, another session together, another day where we see if we've made any progress. How are you feeling today?", she said. Tails sighed, "I don't know really, I guess I've just come to accept that throughout that whole ordeal, I was just as responsible for what happened as Nightshade was.

"He might have given me mindbreaking nightmares and forced me to question reality, but I should've been smart enough to realize none of it was real. That he was just using me as a pawn in his revenge plot and I let him take advantage of my fears, but I know now that he's gone, I can move on from it. I don't really think about it anymore and talking about doesn't hurt me as much as it did the first time around.

"Even Sonic...I'm not too sad by the fact that I can't see him now or might not ever be able to see him, it use to tear me up inside that I couldn't be able to hang out with him like we used to. There were some nights where I'd lie in bed awake crying and whispering "why can't Sonic and I be together again? It was Nightshade's fault he almost died, not mine!" over and over again, but now I've learned to be the bigger person and realize that Nightshade may have put those horrific images in my head but I'm the one who picked up the knife.

"In that moment, I made the conscious decision to attack my friend because I was blinded by my fears and paranoia and now I've learned to just accept the consequences. And if Sonic and I have to spend the rest of our lives interacting by phone calls, then...even though it still hurts...I'll just have to accept it and move on. If that's what it takes to prove to myself that I can be trusted by those I care about again, then I'm willing to put up with a little heartache if it means my best friend will be safe and happy", he said.

Dr. Willowbrook gave Tails a warm smile, "That was by far the most mature thing I've heard you say since we started our sessions together, and I can see that you've grown up quite a bit in these last few months. You've shown strength, bravery and humility; you've proven to have recognized your mistakes and that even if things don't always go your way, they will get better.

"I'm also proud of your approach to the situation between you and Sonic, how you're willing to sacrifice your own happiness for his sake and that proves you are a true friend. In a rather strange and unforeseen way, that terrible situation with you and Nightshade the Somno Canibus has changed you for the better; you've survived it and have come out of it a far wiser and stronger person, and I believe that there is nothing that can stand in your way of being the very best you you can be", she said.

Dr. Willowbrook then looked up at her clock, "Well then, I believe our time is up and it's time for you to go now", she said. Tails held an expression of surprise and confusion, "Really? Huh, I think that was the fastest thirty minutes ever. Not kidding, that really felt like the shortest session we've had so far", he said. "Yes but I feel we got a lot accomplished today, don't you?", asked Dr. Willowbrook.

Tails nodded and smiled, he did in fact felt like a lot was done even in that short amount of time; he also felt that all those things Dr. Willowbrook said about him being stronger, braver and wiser were true. He no longer felt like the naive kid he was just a couple of months ago and he felt as if now he was able to take on any challenge by himself, and even though he felt strong on his own, he knew he'd always have his friends by his side to help him when he needed it.

Speaking of which, Tails then turned towards Dr. Willowbrook. "Hey before I leave, can I ask you a question?", he asked. Dr. Willowbrook smiled, "Of course you can, Tails", she said. For a second, Tails hesitated and looked away before he finally worked up the courage to look her in the eye and ask, "Do you..do you think I'm good enough to see Sonic now?"

Dr. Willowbrook gave him a sympathetic look and said, "Now Tails, you know I can't tell you that just yet. You'll know when you can see him again". Tails sighed before he looked at her with a small smile, "I know, I guess I was just hoping is all. Thank you though", he said as he walked out of her office.

Tails decided to go out for ice cream and even see a movie after his session was over, after having that moment of self evaluation, he wanted to spend the rest of his day doing fun things. When he got home later that day, he walked over to the phone and picked it up; Tails was planning on calling Sonic and telling him about how his session went, but decided not to. "Maybe it'd help if I gave Sonic his space, we both need room to grow from this situation and I have to be strong", he said to himself as he placed them phone back down.

He then walked into his workshop and strolled over to the window, sitting on the windowsill was a flower pot holding a beautiful pink flower that had yet to fully bloom. Tails smiled at it, "Hi Cosmo, nice to see you today. Guess what? I'm finally able to put the Nightshade thing behind me and move on, I don't know if I'll ever be allowed to see Sonic again but I think I can handle it. It's not the end of the world if we don't hang out and I've learned that I don't always have to rely on him to protect me. I can be strong on my own and if I need his help, I know he and the others will be right there to help me", he said.

The next morning, after waking up from a restful night's sleep, Tails decided to go out and have breakfast; it was a rather beautiful morning and he didn't want to spend it sitting in his house like a hermit. He walked into this small family diner in town and sat at an empty booth near one of the windows; the waitress, a mouse with light blue fur, walked over to him to take his order. "Yeah can I have the strawberry cheesecake waffles with extra strawberries and whipped cream, and a glass of milk please?", he said feeling good enough to treat himself.

The waitress smiled and wrote down his order before heading back to the kitchen; just then, the door to the diner opened and Blaze walked in. She spotted Tails and sat at the same booth as he did, "Good morning Tails, how are you doing today?", she asked. "I'm alright, Blaze. I've learned that shouldn't always rely on someone else to help me with troubles or even save me, if they do then it's alright but I'm stronger, braver and wiser now than I've ever been and if I can live through what Nightshade did to me, I can handle anything", he said.

Blaze smiled as the waitress came back with Tails' food, declining her offer of getting her something eat as well. "I'm glad to hear that you feel that way Tails. After you're done, I want you to meet me outside. There's somewhere important I need to take you to", said Blaze as she stood up and left. Tails was confused but shrugged and continued having his breakfast, after he was finished he paid for it and went to go join Blaze outside, who had just finished talking on the phone with someone.

Before Tails had a chance to ask Blaze where they were going, she grabbed him by the hand and led down the street until they came upon Shadow's house. Now Tails was even more confused, "Wait, why are we at Shadow's house?", he asked. Rather than answer him, Blaze led him inside where he saw that all the lights off. Before Tails even had the chance to ask about that, the lights suddenly came back on and just then everyone jump out from behind various hiding places. "SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Tails!", they all shouted.

Tails was taken aback but smiled and laughed nonetheless, "Wow! I don't know what to say except thank you, I guess with everything that's been going on recently, I forgot my birthday was coming up", he said. "Yeah and we figured you'd want a break from having to deal with the aftermath of that whole Nightshade incident, so we got together to plan this surprise party for during the week", said Vector. Cream then walked up to Tails and gave him a big hug, "We're sorry if we made you think we didn't want to spend time with, but we couldn't let you know what we were doing or it would've ruined the surprise. Do you like it?", she said.

Tails smiled, "Like it? I love it! I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends ever. Now where's the food table, I could sure go for a slice of cake", he said. From there, Tails had a blast at his birthday party: he played games, danced to music, ate some snacks including a slice of his cake and even got to crack open a piñata. As the party began to wind down, it soon came time for everyone to give Tails their gifts; most of the presents were either tools or technical devices or in Cream's case, a little doll that looked just like him.

Soon Blaze was the last person left who had yet to give him a present, "Hey Blaze, you're the only one who hasn't given me a gift yet", said Tails. Blaze smiled warmly, "That's because I wanted mine, which is the best gift, to be saved for last. Okay, you can come in now", she said as she called out to the doorway leading into the halls. Through the doorway, stepped in a familiar looking blue hedgehog with a red ribbon tied around his waist, Tails was in complete and utter shock to say the least.

"Wha...? Sonic...? But...but I thought that...", Tails trailed off as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Blaze places her hand upon his shoulder, "I got your evaluation in the mail this morning, as it turns out your mental health is as healthy as it was before Nightshade inhabited your body, so the courts say you're allowed to be around Sonic again. This day is all about you after all, Tails. Now go and be with best friend/brother", she said.

Tails didn't say a single word, but a smile stretched across his face as tears fell from his eyes; he slowly walked over to Sonic and threw his arms around him, holding him as tight as could. Sonic leaned down and wrapped his arms around Tails and if one looked closely, you could faintly see small tears coming from his eyes as he embraced his best friend/little brother.

The party continued on for the rest of the evening, but everyone gave Sonic and Tails their space as the spent it reconnecting with one another; after six months of separation, they both almost fear the other was becoming a distant memory. After the party ended, with everyone going home after helping Shadow clean up his living room, Sonic asked Tails to meet over by Green Hill once again after he finished dropping off his other presents back at his house.

The two friends walked over to where the incident that kicked off this whole ordeal happened, only the crime scene had been eventually cleaned up and new plants were planted in that area, "Why did you want to come back here again, Sonic?", asked Tails. Sonic didn't say anything but gestured to Tails to come and sit near him, both of them facing the side of the hill that overlooked all the mountains; as they sat there, something large and bright soon came into view.

Slowly, the moon began to rise over the mountain peaks and into the sky; it was big and full, and gave off a bright white light that was only offset by all the stars that slowly began to join it. Tails looked up at the celestial body and smiled in child-like wonder.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?", asked Sonic.

"Yeah, it really is", said Tails.

"I've been waiting so long to watch the moon rise with you, Tails", said Sonic.

"Me too, Sonic. But it was definitely, and without a shred of doubt, worth the wait. Don't you think so?", said Tails.

"Yeah, this is the best moon rise I've seen ever", said Sonic.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah, Tails?"

"We're finally able to be together, aren't we?"

"That's right, Tails. And we'll always be together, I promise. We're best friends and brothers, together forever until the end of time".

At that moment, Sonic put his arm around Tails' shoulder in a warm and friendly hug and Tails leaned over to lay his head on Sonic's shoulder as they both continued to sit on the grassy hill and watch the moon rise; many of the small woodland critters came out of their homes to sit around the duo and join them in their Moon Watching. Tails couldn't have been any happier than he was then: he saved himself and possibly the world from an evil demonic parasite with the help of his friends and he had been reunited with the hedgehog whom he was proud to not only call his best friend but also his beloved big brother.

In that moment, Miles "Tails" Prower was the luckiest fox on Mobius and quite possibly the luckiest fox in the entire universe.

~The End~

Author's Note: And that's the end of Madness and Chaos! I'd like to thank all those who got me to this point: the many people who gave me helpful tips and positive comments, the person who drew the fan comic version of the MLP creepypasta "Rocket to Insanity" for the inspiration for the plot of this story and finally JC the Hyena for creating ; I'll admit, dude, that your story and its sequel based on were boring, pretentious and needlessly complicated but the character you created gave me good frame work to creating the main villain of my story, so I tip my hat to you.

This story took a lot of thought, planning, inspiration, free time and persistence but it was all worth it in the end as I wrote a story about my fourth favorite Sonic character going through a perilous situation and coming out a much stronger person. Thank you all for joining me on this ride and, as always, I'm SuperKirbyLand234. I write stories for fun and based on the things I love!


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